Shattered Tears
by ImmortalPhantom22
Summary: Danny is kidnapped and five years later, he returns to Amity Park. Now, Danny is an assassin for an organization and has no memories of the past, and the worst part is who he has been hired to assassinate. T for violence.
1. Fading Memories

Shattered Tears

Chapter 1: Fading Memories

Rated T for violence and mild language.

Yes, I am a horrible person, I haven't finished my other fics yet but I still posted this one. I promise I will complete the other two!

Police, ambulances and fire trucks surrounded the odd looking home. A crowd had also formed around the area, wanting to know what had happened. Glass from some windows in the house was scattered across the street in front and the large sign attached to the house that said Fenton Works was cracked in several places. The front door was open but was blocked off with yellow tape.

"Let me through!!!" A teen girl, fourteen years old proceeded to kick one of the cops with her large combat boot. The Gothic girl was wearing a black skirt, purple leggings and a black tank top while she had her black hair a bit shorter than shoulder length. She had tears rolling down her face, continuing to scream and yell at everyone who tried to stop her.

Behind the girl was a boy the same age, African American with glasses, a red beret, a long sleeve shirt and green shorts. He also wanted to get through but didn't use as much force as the girl did.

Sam Manson and Tucker Foley were their names. Their best friend Danny lived in Fenton Works.

"Ma'am, you can't-"

"Let me go!!! I have to know if Danny's alright! Where is he!? Where's Danny!?" Nearly hyperventilating, Sam didn't let up on trying to break through.

"Calm down ma'am."

"Like hell! My best friend is in there!" Sam was known for her way of actions, both good and bad. In this case, when she was worried about her friend, nothing else mattered. Sam was being restrained by four cops when she heard another police officer speaking to their captain; it was quiet but she heard it nonetheless.

"Sir, of the whole family none survived. They were dead before we could do anything."

Sam's eyes grew wide with absolute horror; time seemed to freeze right there…that sentence echoed in her head over and over again, "none survived." She fell to her knees, no longer trying to break past the men.

"Ma'am?" The cop asked, all of them looked at her with concern.

Her face paled to an unbelievable white. And without warning, Sam keeled over and vomited. It was then that she broke down in screams and sobs.

Tucker quickly figured out why she acted that way. The sickening truth shot him in the heart so painfully it was like he couldn't breathe.

The crowd quickly caught onto the news as well, the word was spread like a wildfire amongst them.

The Fentons had been murdered.

"Ma'am! Are you alright?"

Tears began to roll down her face. Sam's hands came up to her face, her body trembled unbelievably while she clutched her hair. Her knuckles whitened from the strain in her hands. It was a miracle that her hair wasn't ripped out from the pull.

Face contorting in a pained expression, Sam continued to release a howling cry of agony. A pair of arms quickly wrapped around her body, she didn't have to look up to see that it was Tucker. She could feel his body shaking. Sam leaned into his embrace, and after a moment she released her hold on her hair and wrapped her arms around her friend.

"T-Tucker…he's…he's…"

"I know." Tucker forced the words to come out of his mouth, biting down on his lip to the point that it bled, "…I know…"

"Danny…Danny…" The named fell from Sam's tongue in a shuttering cry, "Danny!"

--

It wasn't until the next day that Sam and Tucker were told that three people were found murdered; and one wasn't found at all. Jack, Maddie and Jazz Fenton had all been killed from being stabbed or shot.

Danny Fenton, the youngest, wasn't found.

--

It was a huge maze of memories; left – right – forward – back…things were so confusing. What was happening? He reached forward with a half numb, weak as jello arm. He didn't know what he was reaching for, but he wanted to grab something, anything and cling to it tightly. Slowly, the images began to vanish. "Come back." He whispered. The maze disintegrated from existence. What was there before? Why did he want to keep them? It was all gone, everything and everyone…gone…

A teen boy slowly opened his sky blue eyes, the light that previously shown brightly from those eyes was long gone; they seemed cold and dead. The first thing he noticed was the large container he was trapped in. There was enough room to move, but not a whole lot. He was on his back; a strange mask connected to a long tube was on his mouth. He was too weak and somewhat nauseous to move, he just lay there, noticing that he was naked other than a pair of shorts.

The next thing he noticed was the man standing beside the container looking at him. The man was probably in his mid forties, dark brown hair and a strange silver and black outfit.

The teen couldn't quite understand it, but the moment he saw the man, it was like an immediate attachment. Like a baby seeing it's mother, there was an immediate feeling of loyalty.

--5 years later--

It was absolutely silent in the middle of the forest, in an opening was an unexpectedly huge mansion surrounded by a ten-foot wall for protection. Even though it was late at night, not many people inside the place were asleep. Lights coming from the windows showed several different people wandering around.

On top of a tree located behind the wall, squatting on a branch was a dark figure, covered head to toe in black clothes to hide him from being seen. The figure wore a pair of night vision goggles with which he could see everything around him, including the small red beams on the lawn inside of the wall. The person seemed to have nothing on him, but hidden within his clothing was an unlimited number of weapons. Around his neck was a chain with a tag, which read 'Z-3'.

"All clear, master." The one known as Z-3 spoke quietly into the head set that attached to his ear.

"Very well, proceed with caution. Leave no witnesses."

"Understood, master." The figure jumped off of the branch he had been on, falling about 15 feet to the ground where he landed with such grace that it was completely silent. Z-3 ran forward lightly on his toes, somehow managing to avoid all leaves and branches on the ground that might let off a sound. Once he reached the wall, Z-3 seemed to pull two poles out of nowhere; each pole was sharply tipped on one end. He stabbed the wall with one pole at eye level and used it to pull himself up so that he was now standing on that pole. Quickly, he forced the other pole into the wall above him and swung up to that one as well so that he was now at the top.

Although he most likely couldn't be seen at all, he still had to be cautious. Z-3 leapt from the wall to the grass, immediately dropping down to his belly. With his goggles he could see the red beams located criss-cross horizontally to the ground about a foot high. Rather than spending time playing hop-scotch with the lasers, he began to crawl along the grass using his elbows and legs to move swiftly past. _This is too easy. _He thought to himself, but quickly threw that thought away, he couldn't let himself think that it was too easy and be caught off guard, this was a mission and he had to treat it like one!

It took less than a minute to get to the mansion. Z-3 went right up to the house's wall and sat with his back to it, looking left and right for any guards or cameras. Once he was positive that there were none around him, he stood up and walked to the corner, peeking around the corner briefly and saw that there were two men standing outside the side door.

_Each has a 46D gun at their side so they only have 3 shots. One is wearing a headset, most likely to contact for more backup. Both have a thin bullet vest under their jacket, their legs and head don't seem to be protected. _

Z-3 reached down to his leg and pulled out two combat knives, holding them tightly in each hand. _Take out the one with the headset first so no one else shows up. Complete task in less than two seconds before either of them can let off a round and give away my position. _He knew that he wouldn't be able to sneak up because the door had a light above it so a black figure like him would stand out easily.

He threw the night-vision goggles away, they would be of no use now; and darted out from behind the wall, running forward with incredible speed. Z-3 came up alongside the first man with the headset, bringing the knife up faster than eyes could follow and thrust the weapon into the side of the man's neck, cutting off his airway completely, but that's not the only reason the man died. Z-3, while he held the knife in the man's neck used his other arm to push the dead man behind him and pulled the knife out.

The remaining guard reached to his side for his gun but didn't have a chance to grab it because two knives came up on both sides of his neck, cutting deep into his flesh. Z-3 nearly took the guy's head off but didn't care; it was necessary to keep the guy from yelling. If he had stabbed the guy in the stomach, he might have a spare moment to scream with agony.

Z-3 didn't waste time there; he quickly examined the door to see if any security was on it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He flicked the knives in his hands in a quick attempt to clean them.

He opened the door the tiniest bit, noticing that there was a light in the room as well as a camera nearby. Destroying a camera would definitely be reported to someone who was keeping watch. Z-3 sheathed one of the knives back into his leg pocket, and while opening the door just wide enough he launched the knife directly toward the light. With a large spark, the light shattered. "I'm in." Z-3 whispered to the head set before he went inside.

--

A small girl, only eight years old sat by her window staring at the stars while clutching her favorite teddy bear. Her light brown hair was still slightly damp from her bath earlier. She wore a pair of pink pajamas and blue fuzzy slippers that matched her eyes. For some reason she was unable to fall asleep, she wanted to call out to her mom or dad but she knew that her dad was in a meeting and her mom was probably asleep.

Her head suddenly shot up with alertness when she heard a loud noise and her door opened.

--

Z-3 ran through the hallways with ease, at this point he knew that it didn't matter that the cameras saw him, now that he was officially in the mansion he had the upper hand. Guards ran toward him from one end of the hallway, immediately firing rounds of bullets in his direction.

He saw the bullets coming and dove downward avoiding 6 of the bullets, and rolled back into a sprint. However, 7 bullets had been shot. Z-3 knew that if he were one on one he could avoid any bullet by watching where they were aiming and determining the best place to avoid, but seven people were attacking him so it was different. One of the bullets grazed his shoulder lightly, it was shallow and Z-3 knew that it wasn't lodged inside of him so he thought nothing of it.

From about twenty feet away, he threw two knives at the men. One hit a guy in the chest and the other hit a guy in the shoulder. Z-3 quickly closed the distance between them before either of the men knew that they had been hit, he grabbed both knives and pulled them out. In the blink of an eye, he spun around, bringing his heel up and striking another man in the jaw. With the momentum from hitting that guy with his leg, he dove to the ground as another bullet was shot.

If Z-3 had remained standing he would've been hit, but he ducked and therefore the bullet went past him and into one of the guard's comrades. Four down. The one closest to him that had shot another was reloading his gun as quickly as he could. Z-3, still holding his precious knives, jumped from his ground position up toward the man, the blade struck him under his jaw, coming up through his mouth before being pulled back. Five down.

They might not be dead yet, but Z-3 knew the human body all too well and had aimed for parts of the body that would heavily damage them to the point that it was either instant death or possibly a slow death, either way it was impossible for them to survive.

The two remaining guys had taken the time to load their guns again and were aiming toward the intruder. "Don't move!"

_Such a pointless threat. _Z-3 kicked upward, striking the man's hand that caused the gun to fly into the air. The man was soon on the floor with a gaping knife wound in his chest. Z-3 caught the gun before it hit the ground and fired at the last guy, hitting him between the eyes.

--

"What is going on out there!?" A large man with short black hair and a mustache barked at the man who had interrupted the meeting.

"Sir, there is an intruder! We need to escort everyone out of here immediately." One of his guards quickly said.

Everyone in the room was sitting at a table with the large man at the end, obviously the one who was holding the meeting. "You can't be serious!" He barked. "One intruder? Get rid of him!"

"Boss, we're trying to hold him off but-" The guard went silent and fell forward without another sound.

The people in the room gasped, and a few of them even started to get up.

"You move you die." A stern, dark voice snarled at them. The intruder, in all black, stepped into the room, holding a gun up to eye level. The room went silent and nobody dared move. Z-3 looked at the end of the table with the boss, "you are Cameron Felix, I assume?"

"Who wants to know?" The boss known as Felix replied, trying to act tough but was obviously frightened of this man. His eyes narrowed, "wait, that gun…"

The gun that Z-3 held was not like other guns, it was unique and hand made by some of the best weapon makers in the world, one of a kind. However on the side of it was an odd symbol that Z-3 knew was an ancient language writing that spelled the name of the original creator of their organization.

"It's Zanar!?"

"Correct." Z-3 replied.

"What do you want!?"

"I require nothing from you. I just follow orders." Z-3 loaded the gun, making everyone in the room flinch. "Time of death, 12:42" _Bang! _Even from all the way across the room, it was a direct hit to the forehead. _Kill any and all witnesses. _Z-3 looked at all the people around the table, putting away his gun and pulling out hit knives once more. _The gun is only used for direct orders. My target was Cameron Felix, therefore I used a bullet on him. All the other ones here will have to die another way. _He had several weapons, but knives were the only ones necessary in this case.

--

The young girl turned to the door being opened and saw her mother hurry in. "Mommy?"

"Kate, hurry! We need to leave now!" The woman, still in her nightgown ran up to her daughter. She had her light brown hair pulled up into a ponytail, the same colour hair as her daughter. She tried not to sound panicked.

"What's wrong, mommy?"

"Don't worry, let's go." She gasped when she heard noise from the hallway and quickly grabbed her daughter's wrist, pushing her down to the ground by her bed, "never mind, get under the bed, and don't make a sound!" She gave her daughter a quick kiss on the forehead before running out of the room into the hallway.

"Mommy?" Kate silently said but obeyed the order.

A gun shot rang through the hallway, the young girl gasped with horror. She still held tightly to her teddy bear, biting her lip with fear. She didn't know what the loud sound was, but she was suddenly really afraid. "Mommy!" She screamed, getting out from under the bed, "I'm scared!" She ran out of her room to find her mother.

Kate went into the hallway and saw her mother on the floor.

_Click. _

Kate turned around, seeing a man in front of her and a gun was pointed at her. "Who…who're you?" Her heart was pounding in her chest. She was terrified.

_Target: Cameron Felix, Mary Felix and Katelyn Felix. _

The gun fired.

Kate's arms fell limp at her side, the loud bang still ringing in her ears. She fell backward, crashing to the floor, dead before she hit the ground. Her teddy bear fell to the ground lightly beside her.

Z-3 lowered his gun and turned away from the dead mother and daughter. "Mission complete."

--

A large green blob with eyes hovered ten feet above the ground, flying down the street and glancing back constantly with fear.

"Goin' somewhere?"

The blob looked over to its right and saw the one he had been trying to get away from. It let out a wail and tried to fly faster.

The girl, 19 years old wore a full body outfit, equipped endlessly with gadgets and weapons. A helmet covered her face and hid her hair from view. The entire outfit was red and black. She was currently in the air riding on a strange board which was shaped almost like a V, it had rockets to keep her going fast.

The ghost turned to the left and saw another person, nearly identical to the one on his right except for the fact that her entire outfit was black instead of red. The blob panicked and made a dive downward, both people on hover boards followed after him.

"Val, you got him?" The one wearing black asked, she didn't have to yell or anything because she wore something on her ear which carried her voice over to the one wearing red. The name of the object was called the Fenton Phones.

"Yeah, I got him." The girl replied. She held her wrist up to her face so that she could get a better view and quickly clicked a button, which sent a pink net shooting out from the front of her V board.

The green blob wasn't able to dodge the net and was soon wrapped up and unable to fly.

Both girls descended to the ground beside the ghost. The one in the red pulled off her helmet, her long wavy black hair fell behind her back. She was dark and had green eyes. "Nice job." She smiled. The girl was known as Valerie Gray, as well as the Red Huntress.

The girl in black also pulled off her helmet and shook her head to get rid of the helmet hair. Sam Manson smiled back at Valerie, "psh, that was lame. He didn't even put up a fight! Plus, I think this helmet is too small! It's hard to breathe in there!"

Valerie chuckled. "Hey, Tuck?"

Over the headset, Tucker replied, "yeah?"

"We're done here."

"Already?" Tucker asked.

"How're things over there?"

"Good as ever."

"We'll be back in about ten minutes. We have to haul this dude back with us."

The two girls arrived back at Fenton Works ten minutes later where they brought the annoying blob down to the basement. Tucker was sitting in his usual spot, monitoring things with computers.

Sam opened up the Ghost Portal and tossed the ghost blob inside before closing it again. "That was a complete waste of time!"

"Who cares?" Valerie began pulling weapons out from her pockets and putting them on the tables. "As long as there's a pay check to back it up, it doesn't matter."

"Whatever." Sam yawned, "I'm tired, I'll head up to bed." She nodded goodnight to her friends and left the basement, arriving in the living room before going up the next set of stairs. She walked down the short hallway to the room that had "Danny Fenton" written on the door. The three of them had moved into Fenton Works after they graduated from Casper High and used it as their 'headquarters'.

Everything that had been in the Fenton's house was not moved at all. Sam stayed in Danny's room, his astronaut posters still hung up on the wall, his Dumpty Humpty CD's still piled in the corner, the bed had the same sheets and his clothes were still there. Sam had brought a dresser with clothes but made sure not to move anything from its original place.

Sam lied down on the bed. Even though it had been five years, Sam could still smell Danny's scent on his pillow, it was just barely there…but nonetheless, it was there…

-5 Years Previous-

The fourteen year old boy was looking at magazines and listening to music, being a normal teenager. He wasn't, however, expecting something like this to happen. He jumped with surprise when he heard something smash from downstairs. Normal teenagers would run downstairs and expect to find a broken vase or a broken plate. This boy, known as Danny, had a horrible feeling in his gut, like a twisting knot wrapping up painfully.

Danny left his music on, immediately standing up having been lying down on his bed. He quickly made his way out of his room, being very careful to be quiet. Once he reached the stairs, he wanted so badly to call out and ask if everything was alright. So why couldn't he speak? His throat tightened. What was happening? Finally, "Mom? Dad?" He called.

Carefully stepping down one stair at a time. Having not heard a reply, Danny quickened his pace. Did they not hear him? "Mom? Dad? Jazz? Where are you?" He finally reached the bottom of the stairs, looking back and forth for any sign of an intruder. "Where are you guys-" The teen looked over toward the kitchen, narrowing his eyes a bit.

His heart sped up when he realized what he saw. A red smear across the kitchen floor. The teen ran toward the kitchen. He could hardly hear anything over the sound of his heart and breathing. "Oh god!" He fell to his knees. "Mom! Mom! Wake up!" He dropped down to his mother's side. He pressed his head down to her chest to listen for a heartbeat. "Damn it! Mom! Answer me!" He let out an ear-piercing wail of horror and disbelief.

Danny bit his lip until it bled painfully, "Dad!" He gasped, looking around for any sign of his other family members. The boy couldn't bring himself to leave his mother's side. But…he wanted to make sure the rest of his family was alright. Quickly coming up with a solution, Danny forced his body to duplicate into another form exactly like his own. The duplicate took off at a sprint, checking all parts of the house.

The one in the kitchen noticed that it was not a ghost who had attacked, first off he would've sensed a ghost, and second…this was a gun wound. He knew there was nothing he could do… Wheezing with shock and horror, Danny began muttering to himself, "oh god. What do I do? What do I do? Mom. Wake up. Please wake up. You can't die! Who did this? How did they get in without me noticing? Damn it!"

The duplicate was able to find his other two family members, they were both in the lab down in their basement. Both of them had the same gun wound…and neither of them were breathing. Danny slowly stood up, stepping away from his mother. The duplicate vanished from sight as the teen began to glow a dark green colour, his eyes blazing dangerously and things around him began to freeze with ice. "_Show yourself!!!_" Danny screamed at the top of his lungs, nearly releasing a ghostly wail in the process. He couldn't even stand up straight, his head was spinning so fast and his stomach was turning inside out. Danny walked out of the kitchen, into the living room, stumbling all the way.

"I'll kill you! Whoever you are! Get out here!!" Tears streamed down his face, his body convulsing uncontrollably. Breaking down in sobs, Danny lost his balance and dropped to his hands and knees.

A pair of boots came into view, Danny blinked a few times before it registered in his brain that someone was in front of him.

"So, you're the one they call Danny Phantom?"

Danny's eyes trailed upward to see the person's face. He never got to see their face, before he could, he heard a loud bang ringing in his ears. His eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground. The only thing he could think of was how he had failed to protect his family, the burden of that thought weighed down on his chest, crushing him, suffocating him. "I'm sorry." He said, knowing that they wouldn't be able to hear him.

A/N: Hope that you enjoyed this first chapter! Please review!

Oh and if you hadn't figured it out, _yes_, the one known as Z-3 IS Danny, that was supposed to be clear but for those of you who weren't sure I figured I'd say that.


	2. Target

Shattered Tears

Chapter 2: Target

The boy in his late teen years was currently alone in his training room, kicking and punching the air left and right. His fierce, straight-forward attacks soon became a mixture of jumping, rolling and turning like a dance. Soon, the boy closed his eyes, continuing to fly around. A moment later, his ear twitched the slightest bit and while keeping his eyes closed he jumped around 180 degrees, raising an arm to block the oncoming attack.

"Very sharp." A voice complimented.

"I've been practicing." Z-3 smirked and jumped back a few feet, raising his hands up and positioning himself for combat. Even with his eyes closed, he could vaguely sense where his opponent was. If it were a regular, average human Z-3 would've heard them coming from a mile away, but this particular person was definitely not average and the teen struggled to tell where they were.

However, if his opponent had been serious about hurting him, Z-3 would've been dead before he even knew what hit him.

"Let's see how well your practicing is helping." The voice taunted slightly.

Z-3 chuckled, "yes, master."

His master's footsteps seemed to vanish, as though he were floating. Z-3 focused, but was too late. His arm was grabbed from behind and twisted behind his back. Z-3 was forced to his knees, and his opponent continued to hold him there for a moment. "How many times must I tell you not to call me 'Master'?"

"This is the third time this week." Z-3 replied.

"Do I honestly have to remind you again?" his master asked.

"No sir."

"Stop being so formal." He sighed before releasing Z-3, "never mind, open your eyes." Z-3 did as he was told, turning around and looking up at his master, he had dark brown hair and brown eyes and wore his usual silver and black outfit. "This time, keep your eyes open."

Z-3 stood up and nodded. His master, actual name was Charles, was the only one in the organization that he trusted. Others referred to him as Z-2, standing for Zanar 2nd. He was second in command of the organization and was also the second strongest of everyone there. The only person who called him by his first name was Alexandar, the leader of the organization, Z-1.

Even though Z-3 was just one rank behind his master, he couldn't even come close to comparing in strength and abilities as his master. His master smirked before lunging forward at him. Z-3 even with his eyes open had a difficult time seeing where his master would strike.

A punch came within an inch from Z-3's face, but he pulled back just before he was hit and then blocked the kick that came flying at him. _He's going easy, he's not even trying. _Z-3 decided to go on offense and quickly pulled out a set of knives from his pockets, throwing them at his master with as much force as he could manage. A moment after releasing the knives, he retracted a long pole from his belt, charging forward.

Z-3 blinked and stopped dead in his tracks. His master seemed to vanish from sight and a moment later, the bar in his hands was gone and his own knives were now inches from his throat. Z-3 didn't even see him move, but could only assume that his master caught the knives and moved toward him while taking the bar from his hands.

His master laughed, "Did I say that weapons were allowed?"

Z-3 grinned, "Master, if you were unable to defend yourself from mere weapons then I believe I would have to question your ranking." Z-3 suddenly fell to his knees clutching his stomach as the air was knocked out from him.

His master had hit him in the gut with the bar he held. "Very true." He smiled, "didn't I tell you not to call me 'master' just a minute ago?"

Sucking in air, Z-3 coughed a reply "sorry."

"Keep practicing, kid. One day, I expect you to defeat me."

Z-3 shook his head, "That's impossible."

"I can guarantee you, it's not impossible." His master tossed the bar back to him and left the training room.

Even though he was rough sometimes, (like hitting him with a metal bar in the stomach) Z-3 knew that his master wasn't doing it just to be mean, his master expected him to be strong and become stronger. Z-3 had learned so much from him. During missions, his master referred to him as 'Z-3' but other times he just called him 'boy' or 'kid'. Z-3 didn't have a true name, and his master had told him before that 'Z-3' was not meant to replace his name; it was merely his ranking.

There were 10 rankings among the hundreds that were in the Zanar Organization. 10 being the weakest. Z-3 had been chosen from everyone to be trained beneath Charles, it was a great honor to anyone if they were to study under Z-2! The teen soon reached the ranking of Z-3, it took him three years to do so, which was the fastest anyone had climbed up the ranking table. Everyone could see the talent and capability within Z-3, a well respected as well as feared talent.

Z-3 felt so much respect for his master. Every time that he was feeling down or lonely, his master was always there to cheer him up. This job was hard, it was easy to get lost in empty emotions and Z-3 knew that he may have lost part of himself but his master seemed to keep him in check.

He remembered quite vaguely when he first woke up in this place, for the first year at least, Z-3 obeyed orders like a zombie, not giving reactions and hardly speaking whatsoever. It was Charles that pulled him out of that shell he created, making him feel more comfortable and creating a place that Z-3 could almost call a home.

Z-3 was just beginning to get ready to head down to the cafeteria and get some food but was stopped by one of the messenger boys.

"Sir, the master has asked for your appearance immediately."

_Another job? So quickly? _Z-3 nodded, "thank you." And made his way over to _the _master, the one who ran the whole place. Z-1 was the one to assign things. Often times, Z-3 was chosen for missions, Z-1 and Z-2 were both needed here at the organization to keep things running, and then all the rest of the ranked officers were given jobs.

Z-3 stood outside of the master's office for a few moments before the doors were opened and he was invited in by the two security guards there. Both Z-1 and Z-2 were waiting for him. Z-3 bowed in respect, keeping his head down until he was given permission to raise his head.

"Your new mission has been assigned. The targets identities will be given to you shortly. The location is a small town in California known as Amity Park."

Z-3 unexpectedly had his eyes widen at the name.

Both men noticed this. Alexandar asked "do you know of this place?"

"N-no, not really. I apologize, it just sounded a bit familiar." Z-3 was handed a folder by one of the guards which held several files including a few pictures of his targets. _I must've heard the name while I was walking down the hallway at some point. _His eyes narrowed. "Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted." Alexandar smiled, he knew that Z-3 was very respectful even though he was constantly being told that he didn't need to.

"One of my targets is a _mayor_? Sir, it's not that I'm complaining, don't take this wrong, but usually my target is a drug lord or a weapon dealer. May I ask what this is concerning?"

"I know this is a bit out of the ordinary, but I have to mention that this assignment was given to me by another organization, I don't know exactly what the reason for this is. Sometimes questions are never answered, even I wonder what these people may have done to be tracked down."

Z-3 looked over the file very carefully. "how soon do you need me to leave?"

"This is an ASAP mission, you will pack your necessary things tonight and we'll be escorting you there tomorrow morning five o'clock."

Z-3 bowed again before leaving the room. _Amity Park…where have I heard of that? _

--

Sam woke up from her nap, glancing at the clock while she forced herself to leave the bed. Danny's clock had always been off by seven minutes, she never bothered to fix it. Sam walked out of Danny's room and down the stairs into the kitchen.

Valerie was already awake, she sat at the table with a gun in front of her, well at _one _point it was probably a gun, but right now it was in bits and pieces like a 3D puzzle.

"You know, most people read the newspaper in the morning." Sam walked over to the coffee machine, pouring herself a hot cup to wake herself up.

"Yeah, but the newspaper is boring."

"That's such a childish thing to say."

"You don't read the newspaper either!" Valerie continued to focus on the gun, seeming to not even blink for fear that she would lose her concentration or mess something up. "Is Tuck still asleep?"

"You're more likely to know that than me, right? Don't you sleep in the same room?"

Valerie gaped at Sam, "what!? Where did you hear _that_!? We do not!" She cursed, realizing she had lost her concentration. "Oh yeah, I need to tell you, my dad called me last night, I'm going to be gone for a few days. I'll be going to visit him down in Florida for his birthday."

"That's quick. When're you leaving?"

"Don't know. I think it's either tomorrow or the next day…I wrote it down somewhere when my flight is. Can you and Tucker handle things here?"

"Obviously we can! You have no faith in us."

At that moment, Tucker walked in, rubbing his still half closed eyes. "Why's there talking in the morning?"

"Good morning to you too."

Tucker gave a short groan in response. "Why are you two awake so early?"

"Tucker, its nine o'clock."

"I know. You didn't answer my question." Tucker poured himself a cup of coffee, sipping it lightly. "Do we have a job today?"

"Not yet." Sam replied, "the mayor hasn't called us at all." Sam looked at the calendar attached to the wall and frowned. Tomorrow was always a terrible day. Every year the three of them went to visit the Fentons graves on a certain day, tomorrow, the day that the horrible slaughter happened. They had all accepted the fact that they wouldn't be coming back, but that didn't mean they wanted to accept it.

Later that day, Sam went to the store, usually Valerie went shopping for food but this time of the year Sam went shopping to get flowers.

--

Valerie, Sam and Tucker stood in front of the three headstones next to each other, all of them were silent and deep in thought. Time didn't matter on this day, they stayed there for hours sometimes just standing and thinking.

And every year, when they started to walk away from the graves, Sam would always say "we'll find the people who did this." She promised them every year. She wouldn't be able to deal with this if she never found out the truth, who in their right minds would hurt such a loving family?

--

Z-3's plane landed that evening, where he was given some money and of course his weapons. He wasn't given any electronics of any kind, there was always a chance that someone could tap into their phone conversations or something else which would give away their base. Sometimes on certain missions, Z-3 was given a headset of some sort to communicate with fellow comrades nearby, but other than that communication wasn't used.

On this particular mission, Z-3 was going alone without any partners; it seemed like an easy enough job for one person.

For some reason, today Z-3 felt somewhat sick to his stomach. He didn't quite know what it was but deep down he felt sad. He shook off the feeling and continued on his way. He stopped to glance at the papers he was given, they were confidential and couldn't be seen by anyone else. _Might as well get this done tonight. _He looked at the picture of the mayor and started on his way.

Z-3 looked at the other information he was given, there were four people he was assigned to get rid of. One being the Mayor, the other three though, there were hardly any records on them. "Black Huntress?" He mouthed the name, he wasn't given any other info other than that. These people didn't seem to have a history of theft or criminal acts at all. Either they were extremely good at keeping their information a secret, or they were some innocent civilians who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for whatever reason.

Either way, it was a job and Z-3 had never failed a job. He figured that he could get all of this done by tomorrow. At the moment, Z-3 was wearing an outfit that had been provided, it was a blue button up shirt and jeans, he looked much like a casual teen. Before he could start, he needed to observe the city, find spots to hide and a place to set up as well as try to find out more about his targets.

--

"What's this?" Sam held the sealed envelope.

"I was asked to give it to you directly, it is from the GIW." The mayor told her with a hushed tone.

"Ah, those idiots. Sounds interesting." Even after all these years, Sam still didn't like them. They had, surprisingly, become quite reliable over the years and helped Sam out several times. Usually she wasn't given stuff from them, so this made her interested. She opened the envelope, it was…a request to…destroy someone. "Of course," she sighed, "who do they want me to take care of this time? The Ghost King again?" She scoffed. "Who is Z-3? I've never heard of that ghost."

After looking at the details of her assignment more, she realized that it didn't mention much about Z-3, "are they going to give me _any _details about his abilities? What does he look like? Is it even a _he_?"

The mayor shrugged, "I don't know anything about this. I'm sorry. If you must, I can get you in contact with the GIW."

"No, it's fine. I'll go tell Val and Tuck about, thank you Mayor." She gave a quick smile before leaving the large building. Well, even though she assumed it was another weak ghost, the mystery of not knowing was what made her interested. "Well, if the _Idiots _in White are asking for help, it's probably going to be fun."

The moment she got to Fenton Works, she went down to the basement where Tucker was sitting in front of several monitors, as always. "You're going to get sick if you sit in front of computers all day."

"I disagree." Tucker replied, not once taking his eyes off of the screen.

"Yeah, well, here," Sam tossed the papers at Tucker, "see if you can hack any information about this Z-3, apparently the name is the only thing we have on them."

Tucker grabbed the papers, glancing over them quickly. "I've never heard of them before." His eyes lit up, "cool!" He immediately got to work. "It's fun to find information!"

"You mean steal information."

"Well don't say like it's a negative thing. We're helping people!"

"Yeah, yeah, where's Val?"

"Didn't she tell you she was leaving?"

"She left already?" Sam asked. "I thought she wasn't leaving until tomorrow."

Tucker shrugged. "Oh yeah, she told me something like she wanted to leave early to surprise her family…I can't remember. She left you a note in the kitchen."

Sam shook her head, "you're pathetic." She left the basement and went to the kitchen. As he said, there was a note left on the counter. _Sam, sorry I left so early without telling you. My mom called and we decided that I would go there early to surprise my dad. If you need anything, you know my number. I'll see you in a few days. Love, Val. _

"Damn it," Sam tossed the note onto the counter, "I was hoping she could help us a bit with this Z-3 guy." Sam narrowed her eyes, "did she take the Specter Speeder!?" Sam called out toward Tucker.

"Yeah, why?" Tucker called back from the basement.

Sam growled, "we _need _that!" Sam rolled her eyes, "well, whatever. We'll manage."

Sam reached for the gun on her belt when she heard a siren noise coming from the basement. "Damn it, Tucker! What did you do!?" She ran out of the kitchen and into the basement.

"I swear that wasn't me!" Tucker held up his hands with innocence, "someone's trying to get past my security."

"Who?"

"How should I know!" Tucker watched the monitor, "we're getting a message." He grinned, "this is so cool! It's like a movie moment! With the mysterious message and everything!"

"Shut up and boost our security. We can't let anyone get into our things."

"That's sort of too late."

_7212 Thorstreet 10:00pm _

"That's a boring message." Tucker pouted.

"You're such a child!" Sam barked, "Is this the whole message?"

"Yeah, sadly."

"Do you know who sent it?"

"Someone who was able to get past my security! I _have _to meet them! How did they do that! So, are we going to go there tonight?"

"You are such a child!" Sam narrowed her eyes, "as much as I hate to say it, I'm curious to see who did this. But _I _will be going, you are going to stay here and I'll keep in contact with you the entire time. If Val were here it would be easier, but we'll have to do this ourselves."

Tucker nodded, "I'm sorry, I wish I could be of more help with fighting. But you know, I'm not as good with that sort of thing."

Sam gave a reassuring smile, "don't put yourself down, Tuck. We wouldn't be able to do anything without you. Come on, help me get my gear all ready." Sam had a cold feeling from this strange message, she didn't like this.

--

Z-3 had just begun to set up his things in a conveniently empty store, having easily broken in, when he noticed that someone else had been there recently. As far as Z-3 was sure, this place was abandoned months ago. Nobody should have been in here. He pulled out a knife from his sleeve, slowly working his way through the place without creating a sound.

He checked every space in the store. His eyes narrowed when he noticed a piece of paper taped to the wall in the back room. Not putting the knife away, Z-3 walked up to the paper. _7212 Thorstreet 10:00pm_. The tape was fresh, this note was new. So someone _did _know he was here? That thought put Z-3 on edge. Was someone nearby? Who could possibly have gotten in here and left without him noticing? The only people he could think of was his master and Z-1.

Not willing to ignore such a message, Z-3 packed up his few things to bring with him. He didn't want to stay in this store any longer. It was making him feel uneasy.

--

"Tucker?" Sam whispered into the Fenton Phones, "Everything clear so far?"

"Yeah, I'll let you know if I see any heat signature. Just stay calm. If a ghost shows up though, I can't guarantee I'll see it with heat signatures, so be careful."

"I know." As time went on, Sam continued to glance at her watch, she had gotten there several hours earlier than the message told her to. It was only 8:00 right now. "I think I sense someone."

"I don't see anything."

"I'm going to go check it out." She wasn't sure what it was, but the feeling like someone else was there was irritating her. She pulled out her gun, holding it up to eye level. "Tucker, there's definitely someone here."

"Sam, something's messing with my screen. I can't see anything. Whoever the hell this is, they're good."

Tucker heard a gun shot and then a cackling sound. "Sam!? Sam? Answer me!" Sam didn't answer him.

Sam's eyes were wide, she looked down at the ground where the Fenton Phones were, both of them had been knocked off from her ears with something that was too fast for her to see. She continued to hold up the gun, having already fired one bullet from frightened instinct when her headset was knocked off.

She stood her ground, "that was impressive, do you mind coming out to face me?" This time, with her high adrenaline rush, she was alert and was able to react when a knife was thrown toward her. She swung her gun up, colliding it with the knife and sending it spinning in the other direction. "It's not much of a fight when you only throw things."

Sam didn't hear the footsteps, but something in her brain clicked. She whipped out a long metallic pole that had been attached to her thigh, and spun around, bringing the pole up to block the attacker. Metal clashed with metal as the pursuer brought down his blade toward her.

They were locked in that position, Sam pushing against the man while he pressed the weapon down.

Even with their weapons grinding against each other, the two opponents spared the time to meet the other's eyes. Her purple eyes met his blue ones. Sam's eyes widened immediately, she gasped with absolute shock and Z-3 felt his insides tighten inside of him painfully. He opened his mouth to speak, "who are you?"

A/N: Yeah, Jezebel mentioned to me that Tucker seemed a little out of character here. I explained to her that in my mind at least, I picture Tucker (in the future) as being similar to Jack, he's sort of a goof most of the time but when the situation is serious he drops the whole 'idiot' act and takes charge. That's just what I think of him as. And I apologize if I ruined Tucker for you! I honestly didn't mean to!

Thanks so much for your reviews and support! I'll have the next chapter up really soon!

Oh, and also I wanted to mention that I didn't much like how this chapter turned out, but I had WAY too much fun writing the next chapter! (Grins evilly) So I'm excited to post it!


	3. Encounter

Shattered Tears

Chapter 3: Encounter

"Who are you?"

Sam only stared at him, she quickly lost her strong grip of her weapon, which gave Z-3 the advantage he needed. He forced the metal bar out of her hands, sending it flying across the room. He brought his foot up and kicked Sam in the gut, throwing her backward several feet and to the ground. "Danny! It's me! It's Sam!" She coughed painfully, bringing herself up to her hands and knees.

Z-3 felt his heart pang in his chest. "Who the hell do you think I am, woman!?" He barked.

She turned and looked up into his eyes, "Danny? Do you…"

_Again! She called me that again! _Z-3 grit his teeth, bringing his foot up again and kicked her in the ribs. He could've easily broken all of her ribs with a kick, but he attacked her very lightly, only giving her a bruise at the most. "Don't call me that."

"What happened to you!?" Sam brought herself back into a stand, pulling out a glowing green rod. "Where did you go all those years!?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!!" Z-3 pulled out two combat knives, lunging forward with great speed. _Why? I'm attacking without thinking. What is this woman doing? She must have a hypnosis ability of some sort. I'll have to take her down before she can do anything else. _

Sam blocked his knives with the glowing stick, which caused Z-3 to drop his knives, having his hands burn the moment they struck. He jumped back several feet, glaring at the weapon. _What was that? An electric current? No, it felt more like fire. Why can she touch it without any problems? She's a more difficult opponent than I realized. _

Z-3 pulled out more knives, letting out a snarl while he threw the knives toward her. Sam's eyes widened, she raised the bar to block a knife, but the other drove into her thigh, cutting deep into the muscle. She let out a cry of pain, but stood her ground. The glowing rod dropped from her hands onto the ground, where the green part seemed to retract into the handle.

"Who are you, woman!? Answer me!"

"My name is Sam. I'm your friend."

"Are you the one who told me to come here?"

"What?"

"Are you the one who sent me that message!?"

Sam's eyes widened. "Wait, you got the same message as me? So…someone was trying to get us both here." She gasped when Z-3 wrapped his fingers around her neck and thrust her into the wall.

Their faces were inches apart, Z-3 moved his arms to either side of her body, trapping her there so that she couldn't escape.

Z-3 looked deep into those purple eyes, searching for fear or even anger. In every single mission he had gone on, he could always see the horror that his opponent felt. This? This girl had no fear of him! "Why are you not afraid?" He demanded to know.

"Because I know that you won't hurt me."

Z-3's eyes widened, "what!?" He snarled, starting to get frustrated with this woman. However at the same time, he could feel something else, something that seemed familiar but at the same time was completely foreign to him. A strange tightening in his stomach, it was almost painful. He pulled away for a brief moment and reached to his side, pulling out his gun and pointing it at the woman. "You're starting to annoy me, woman!"

Sam's face tightened, still she wasn't afraid; she seemed upset. "Danny…do you really not remember me?"

"Shut up, woman!" The gun clicked so that it was loaded.

"Danny, at least answer me before you kill me…do you remember who took you away?"

"Stop calling me that!" Z-3 barked, biting his lip painfully, "I'm not _Danny_! I don't know what you're talking about! Nobody took me away! What the hell are you saying!?"

"You _are _Danny! I know it! Remember? We were best friends! You, Tucker and me! All of us were friends! Danny!" Sam couldn't help it, a tear slid from her eye, her yelling soon became a mixture of sobs, "You've been gone for five years! Are you telling me that you don't remember your family? Your home?"

Z-3 swallowed, breathing deeply. "You…you're lying!"

"Sam? Sam? Are you there?" A voice spoke quietly. The Fenton Phone on the ground near them had Tucker's voice. "Are you alright? What's going on?"

Z-3 continued to hold the gun up but he slowly stepped toward the headset and put it up to his ear, "Who is this!?"

"I should be asking _you _that! Who are you?" Tucker barked, the fear in his tone easily sounded in his words. "What did you do to Sam!?"

Z-3 didn't reply, he didn't know what to say so instead he smashed the headset in his hand. "Does he know where you are?"

Sam shook her head no.

"Stop crying!" Z-3 ordered, he didn't admit it but her crying was affecting him. He didn't want to see her cry. He then realized that his hand, which held the gun to her, was shaking. "What are you!? What are you doing to me!?" He still assumed that it was some mind trick she was using on him to cause him these effects.

"Danny…" Sam took a step forward.

"Don't move!"

She took another step forward, ignoring his command.

"I said _don't move_!" Z-3 tried to pull the trigger…his finger seemed like it was frozen, it wouldn't shoot! "Stay away from me!" He took a step backward in fear. He hated being afraid, he thought he had overcome fear…apparently not…

Sam took a hold of the gun gently, then slowly pushed it down away from her. Z-3 felt as though he had no resistance against the action, she had pushed away the gun so easily… Sam took another step toward him. She was so close, Z-3 could smell her scent and it overpowered his senses.

Z-3 turned his head away, closing his eyes. "Stop." He quietly said, no he begged her to stop. He was shaking.

"Danny, please look at me."

"I don't know who you think I am, but I'm not Danny."

"Then can you tell me your name?"

Z-3 sighed, "I have no name."

"Everyone has a name."

"No! I told you, I don't have a name!" Z-3 snapped.

"You have a name, your name is Danny Fenton. Your parents were Maddie and Jack, and you had an older sister named Jazz."

"No." Z-3 shook his head. He gasped and his eyes snapped open when Sam grabbed his hand. A warm sensation traveled up his arm, he wanted to pull away so badly but instead he just looked at his hand. Her fingers curled around his own. "Let go." It was such a hollow demand and it certainly sounded like he didn't mean it.

"Do you want me to?"

He didn't reply.

Slowly and softly, Sam brought her face close to his own and quickly pecked him on the lips. When she looked up at his eyes she could see them shut tightly like he was in pain. "Danny?" It was very sudden, he tightened his hand around her hand that was already holding his and with his other hand he dropped his gun and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her entire body up against his own.

Z-3 pressed his lips back onto hers.

The door to the warehouse burst open with a loud bang, Z-3 and Sam both pulled away, and from instinct, Z-3 jumped for his gun that he had dropped, aiming toward the door and firing three times, however aiming to miss. He mostly shot the rounds as a warning. Z-3 felt his heart racing three times over! It was dark, and he knew that if he paid more attention he would be able to find out who it was but instead he took off at a sprint, giving one last glance back at Sam before disappearing.

Sam watched him run and wanted to call for him to stay but he was gone. She turned to the door that had opened, "hello?" She called, she could see a figure but it was too dark to see who it was.

"Sam!" Tucker ran up to her, "thank god! You're okay!" He heaved in and out, seeming to have run all the way there.

"How did you find me?"

"Seriously? Those Fenton Phones have a tracking device, remember? I could see where the signal was cut off so I came here as soon as I could! Who was it that answered the Fenton Phone? Did you get rid of him?" Tucker looked around as though expecting to see someone. "And…did you shoot at me!?"

Sam shook her head, "no that wasn't me."

Tucker's eyes went wide and once again began looking all around him, "are they still here?"

"No, they left right after you came."

"Are you okay?" Tucker put a hand on her shoulder, "you sound…upset…"

Sam threw her arms around Tucker, sobbing as well as laughing against him.

"What happened?"

"I'll tell you, but I can guarantee that you won't believe me."

"Sam!" Tucker looked down at her leg, "you're hurt!" He gasped, looking at the knife sticking out of her thigh.

"I'll be okay." Sam tore cloth from her shirt. She grit her teeth and yanked the knife out, letting out a cry as she did. Sam quickly wrapped the cloth around the wound. "A few stitches and it'll be fine." Over the past few years, she had researched a lot on medical things, so she knew how to take care of wounds by herself. A cut like this was a piece of cake.

"Who was that? What did they want?"

"I don't know what they wanted." Sam smiled. "I'll tell you everything."

--

Z-3 ran for a long time, he lost track of where he was running to but he just kept running until he found himself in an alleyway, completely alone. He put his back against one of the walls and slid down to the ground. He put his face into his hands, placing the gun back into its pouch as well.

It was cloudy and slightly windy… his arms had some goosebumps on them, he convinced himself it was the weather.

Z-3 thought back to that girl, he grit his teeth so hard he could feel them grinding. _Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! _His heart throbbed painfully. _What just happened? It was like… I couldn't even control myself… _

Every time she had called him Danny it was painful to hear. Z-3 couldn't help but like the sound of the name, and how she sounded so confident calling him that but that didn't make it any less painful. _Who the hell was that?_ He couldn't help but curse himself over and over again. From what she had said, she wasn't the one who told him to go there, so who did? _I still have a job to do. She is not my concern. I have to eliminate the Mayor, someone by the name of Vlad Masters, the Red Huntress and the Black Huntress. I can only assume the Red and Black Huntress work together because of their names. The Mayor is easy to find, and I've heard that this Vlad Masters is a millionaire, shouldn't be difficult to find. _

--

"What!?" Tucker waved the small flashlight in front of her eyes a few times, checking her pupils. He was also quite skilled as a medic, though not a pro, he was very helpful with wounds. He wanted to make sure she didn't hit her head or get concussion. She seemed perfectly fine other than her leg. "Sam, are you sure you didn't-"

"Tuck' I know Danny. Trust me. It was him."

"Sam, I really, really want to believe you. Honest, I do. But I… I don't know, that's just a lot to accept, you know? Danny is _dead_."

"They _never _found his body, ever! So for all we know, he's alive and well! And I saw him!"

"And yet you say that he didn't recognize you?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know what happened. He doesn't even know his name. When I asked, he said he didn't have one."

Tucker shook his head, "get some rest, Sam. I'll let you know if anything else happens."

"Tucker, I'm not lying."

Giving a gentle smile, Tucker replied, "I know, you wouldn't lie about something like this. I'll do a bit of research, see if there's anything about Danny's case that could explain something."

"By 'research', do you mean you're going to go into the police files? We _work _for them!"

"Yeah." Tucker smiled, "if it's for my friends I'm willing to break some rules. Seriously, get some rest." Tucker went down from their kitchen into the lab; he sat down in his spinning chair and parked himself in front of his computer. "Let's see." It only took a few minutes for him to break into those files, "what's here?" He browsed through all the records. "I know all of this stuff."

There was _nothing _new added to Danny's case. Tucker's eyebrows pulled together. "Sam did mention that she received the weird case about Z-3 from the GIW…hm…" he got to work once more, "maybe they have something about Danny."

--

Z-3 slowly crept toward the large mansion. _This is it. There's only one millionaire around here. _He was still off of his game a bit, fidgeting and sweating because of the events earlier. Never before had he messed up like that. He put his hand over his mouth. And never before had he felt the urge to _kiss _the person he was fighting!! That very thought of what he had done made him sick.

Perhaps what was making it most painful was the fact that…he couldn't stop thinking of that woman. For now, he only knew her as the woman whom he fought and kissed, he didn't know anything about her other than that. Z-3 could only hope that he could get his head straight for the remainder of this mission.

He loaded his Zanar gun. He had already fired at least three bullets this mission. That was unacceptable. Unnecessarily, he had shot a few rounds during his fight with that woman. This time, it will be _one _bullet, he told himself.

Even sneaking up to the house, he had chills along his spine. Not of fear, but more of caution. Z-3 could see tons of windows, and having done research, this man was completely alone in this house. It would be more than easy to get in. Z-3 went up to a side window; it was a room full of trophies of some sort. His eyes trailed along the frame, not seeing any sort of security on the window or in the room. _Strange. With a house this large and things this expensive, I would've been sure he had security. _

He thrust the tip of his knife into the edge of the window, slowing working his way around until the window fell through silently. Once inside, Z-3 pulled out his gun. He couldn't sense anyone nearby. He put his ear against the wall, using his hands to feel for any sort of vibrations. Having felt and heard nothing, Z-3 could only assume that Masters was on one of the top floors.

Half an hour later, Z-3 was a bit irritated that he didn't find the man he was looking for. The only options were that he was not home, or that he was somewhere hidden in this place. He paused for a moment, breathing deeply and clearing his mind. _There's that feeling again. Those chills. Someone's watching me. Focus…focus…there!! _In the blink of an eye, Z-3 spun around, launching a knife in that direction. More than a little surprised, Z-3 stared at the wall that his knife had struck. _Nobody was there!? I couldn't sworn…_

He shook his head. _Damn. Ever since I arrived in this city, things haven't worked well! I need to focus more. I'll bring shame to Zanar if I'm unable to succeed in a mission such as this. _

A cackling laugh echoed around Z-3.

He looked up and around, searching for the source. His hands tightened around his weapons.

"I have to say, this is a surprise. So, those guys sent you after me? Typical. I'll have to eliminate them for underestimating me."

"What do you know of us?" Z-3 barked. _Does he know of Zanar? That's most likely the reason I was sent to dispose of him. No outsiders can know of us. I have the feeling that's not the only reason though. _"Vlad Masters, correct?" He spoke to the man who he still was unable to see.

"Yes, that's me." Vlad literally appeared right in front of Z-3, causing him to step back with surprise. He glanced at the man with white hair, he had a full black suit on.

_Someone who can move faster than me? That's impressive. _

"But, of course, you wouldn't remember me, would you?"

Z-3 narrowed his eyes, "should I?"

"Ah, that's a story for another time, lad."

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to live." Z-3 brought his knives up.

Vlad laughed again, "Ah, Daniel, you always were entertaining."

_Daniel? Not him too! First the woman calling me Danny and now this guy!? Damn it! _Z-3 had never met this man before, however, he had this feeling about him, a deep lingering hate for some reason. _He isn't even in a fighting stance. I can take him out right now. _Z-3 whipped out his gun and fired, aiming for a direct hit to the forehead. "What!?"

An expensive vase shattered on the other side of the room, but the man before him was unhurt. _Did my eyes deceive me? I swear I just saw the bullet go right through him! _

"Curious?" Vlad grinned, taking a few steps forward.

_What the hell is going on here! I've never missed like this before! _

"Don't act so surprised. Those types of weapons won't have any effect on me."

Z-3 let out a battle cry, charging toward his opponent with two knives. _If bullets won't work, I'll have to go for a frontal attack._ _One stab to the heart and one to the neck. He won't be able to escape. Instant death. _He thrust the knives forward. Rather than blood spurting from the man's body, Z-3 nearly fell forward when he ran right through Vlad.

"My turn." The white haired man tossed a strange looking belt at Z-3. The silver coloured belt just barely grazed his hand, but Z-3 jumped back from the pain that ran through his whole arm. "Ah, I see that you're still _you_. Considering that you're still affected by that belt, that is."

_What the hell is he talking about!? _"What are you?" _How are you able to dodge my attacks? An illusion of some sort? It has to be!_ _Wait, if he was able to go around without me noticing…_ "Were you the one who sent me that message?"

"What message?"

_Either he's playing dumb or I'm looking for someone else. Either way it's bad news. _Z-3 looked at his surroundings. He was very skilled at adapting to things around him. Based off this man's moves, Z-3 was slowly starting to piece together ways to fight better. He leapt for the belt on the ground, it fried his hand on contact, but he quickly threw it at Vlad.

Vlad jumped clear out of the way of the belt.

"So, you are affected by that thing as well?" _So, he's not an illusion if he can be hurt as well. Bullets won't hurt you. That strange belt does though. _Z-3 could feel a small object on his outer thigh, he quickly reached for that weapon and pulled it out. With a light saber sort of effect, a green rod sprung out from the handle. Unlike the woman, Z-3 wasn't able to touch the green lit rod, so he had very limited grip on it.

He had managed to grab this strange weapon during their fight, she had dropped it at one point and he grabbed it on his way out, wanting to investigate it further. Now, it seemed like it would become useful.

--

Tucker's eyes widened as he read each word of the documents involving Danny. There were hundreds! Both things that had occurred in the past when he was fourteen and still Danny Phantom; as well as all the records about the murders. It was so detailed, down to the last possible rumor! The things that shocked Tucker, however, were the events that he and Sam were never told about the case.

As far as Sam and Tucker were concerned, Danny had just vanished at the same time his family was killed. It turns out, there was plenty of Danny's blood at the crime to assume that there was a struggle, also, several things had been stolen from the lab. A list of things that were gone was in this report. The one who was involved in the investigation had called off the search for Danny only two weeks after he had gone missing.

As Tucker read further, he noticed that Vlad Master's name showed up several times. Most of the things were irrelevant, such as interviews with Vlad. But the fact that Vlad was even involved was what pissed Tucker off the most. Although he hated jumping to conclusions, he could only think that Vlad had something to do with this.

"No. He wouldn't do something like this…" Tucker spoke aloud. "Killing them isn't something he would do." Vlad may be a jackass and a manipulative bastard almost always, but killing all of the Fentons was over the top for him. Not to mention that he loved Maddie.

"Find anything?"

"Oowah!" Tucker jumped up with surprise. He turned and saw Sam walking toward him. "Good god, Sam! Don't do that!"

"What're you looking at?"

Tucker quickly pressed a few keys to hide the documents. "Nothing. Weren't you supposed to be resting?"

"I was. For two hours. I figured you'd have something for us to go on in two hours."

"Oh, right." Tucker sighed, "Okay, before I show you, you have to know that if you go to the Guys in White and say anything about this, we'll most likely be arrested for going through their things. I just want you to know because knowing you, you'll want to go and strangle them or get more info from them."

"Yeah, Tucker, I get it. What did you find?"

"It's _possible _that the Guys in White were involved with Danny's disappearance. It's _just _a possibility! They kept so much stuff from us five years ago and going from all of this, I think that these guys are working for someone else."

"Are you saying they covered up everything?"

"I said _don't _jump to conclusions!"

Sam grit her teeth, "I swear, if they are involved with this in any way…I will smash their faces in!"

"We need to find Danny. He is still in town right? Let's try and ask him a few things."

"I was planning on trying to find him. I have no idea where he is. And also, he's _not _going to want to talk to us!"

"Well, assuming that he still has some ghost energy in him, we can probably track him down."

--

_To think…that there is someone outside of Zanar who is capable of defeating me…_Z-3 wiped away a bit of blood trickling from his mouth. _But I'm not done yet. _

"Still planning to fight?"

Z-3 raised up the green rod once again. _My tactics don't appear to be working on this man. I'll have to take it a step up. _He roared with fury, advancing on Vlad and bringing the weapon up. _Frontal attack. Based on what his next movement is, I may have to block, but if I have the chance, I can strike. _

"Pathetic."

_There has to be something I'm missing! _He groaned when a hand was wrapped around his throat and he was thrown into the ground, heaving air from his lungs on impact. _What is he doing that I can't see!? There has to be something!_

"You're not worthy to be my opponent, Daniel."

Z-3 chuckled, "don't underestimate me. I've never lost a fight, and I certainly won't lose to _you_!" Never in a million years would Z-3 think to have said something like that. In his short time here, Z-3 couldn't help but feel like he had changed. He was taking this so unprofessionally. But Z-3 couldn't help but feel like it was fun.

"It seems that Zanar didn't teach you _enough_. You're still the same kid that you were five years ago."

"I'm afraid that I don't know what you're talking about." Z-3 brought his leg up, kicking Vlad in the chest, causing him to stumble back. _That time, I was able to hit him. _Z-3 jumped up to his feet swiftly. _Can he voluntarily go through objects at any time? If so, this will be more of a challenge. _Although, not even expressing it to himself, Z-3 did enjoy a challenge.

Vlad smirked, "interesting. This should be fun."

A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! You guys are amazing! I was so insanely hyper when I wrote this, heheh, but I sort of liked how it turned out. Hope you enjoyed it!


	4. Holding On

Shattered Tears

Chapter 4: Holding On

Z-3 stood up quickly, regaining his ground and holding up his two combat knives, watching his enemy with hawk-like eyes for any sudden movement. _Whatever trick he's using…I'll have to figure it out and fast! I'm beginning to lose some energy. _Vlad Masters vanished from sight. Z-3 spun around quickly to block the attack from behind. "I can see you."

Vlad's eyes widened a bit, noticing how fast Z-3 was beginning to catch up to his speed. "It seems I underestimated you, Daniel. You have improved since we last met."

Z-3 felt his heart wrench at the name _Daniel_. The female voice echoing in his head was painful enough, repeating over and over 'Danny. Danny. Danny.' "Don't call me that!!" He lunged forward, thrusting his knife forward in an attempt to stab him through the heart. _Damn. Don't lose focus. It's a mind trick. Don't fall for it. _

"Ah, I see. You don't remember, do you?" Vlad grinned maliciously.

_I want to remember. Why can't I remember? _"Shut up!" He threw the knife with the speed of a pistol, at the man before him. The knife, not surprisingly, went straight through him.

"Tell me," Vlad walked up to Z-3, "what rank are you in the Zanar organization?"

At this, Z-3's eyes narrowed. _How does he know so much about us? _Not answering the man's question, Z-3 advanced once again on his target. He only had one knife remaining in his right hand. Right now! Z-3 plunged the knife into the man, successfully managing to wound him.

"You still don't understand? Those attacks won't hurt me!"

"What!?" Z-3 eyes widened with horror as a glowing pink rod emerged from his stomach, cutting clean through his flesh and bones; it had the same shape as the green rod he fought with. The Vlad that he had stabbed disappeared from sight.

"That, Daniel, was a duplicate. I'm surprised you fell for that."

Z-3 stayed still, his mouth slightly gaping open with the shocking reality that he was wounded. _It's not possible. Never before have I…this can't be right…_ Blood could be tasted in his mouth as he coughed painfully. _What is that weapon? It cut through me so easily. Is there such a weapon? _The rod that stuck out from his stomach was burning his flesh more each second. Z-3 looked down at it. _It's a good thing it's burning, that way I won't bleed to death. But I can hardly breathe. This is bad. _

Gritting his teeth, Z-3 leaped forward, away from Vlad and his strange weapon. He pressed his hand to his stomach, clasping the wound with agony. _I can't move very well. It'll be best to find an escape and come back tomorrow. It would be stupid to hang around while I'm injured like this. Damn it. This is humiliating. I'm rank 3! _

"You won't be able to find an escape." Vlad smirked. "Don't worry, that wound won't kill you. It would be no fun if you died."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Vlad Masters. Or as I like to be called, Vlad Plasmius. Now I'll redirect that question back at you."

Z-3 flinched. "No name."

"Quite disappointing. The least they could do is tell you your name. Those fools just use you as their puppet to do their dirty work. It's no wonder you're nameless, a person with no meaning is just an empty shell."

_That's not true! They…they took care of me! They taught me how to fight! I've…_Z-3 shook his head, _I can't doubt my Master. _Narrowing his eyes, Z-3 opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. _Don't underestimate me! _

A shiver went up his spine. "I won't fall for that again!" Z-3 dove to the ground, avoiding being stabbed again from behind. "I don't die that easily!"

"You're still much too young to match my strength."

While Z-3 was on the ground, a hand reached up and grabbed his foot. A strange sensation traveled through his leg, but by the time he looked down to observe, his entire foot was pulled through the floor before being released by the hand. _What!? _Z-3 yanked his foot, but it was no use, his foot was stuck _in _the floor! _How did he do that!? _

"We both know who will win this fight."

_Damn. _

Vlad walked toward Z-3 slowly, a smug grin on his face. "Tell me, have you finished off your targets? I mean, not including me of course."

Z-3 whipped out the green glowing rod, thrusting it forward where it grazed the man on the leg, well, more than grazed. He pulled back and struck again, this time swinging the weapon around to strike him at the thigh where it burned some of his suit and skin.

"Damn you, boy!" Vlad slammed his foot down on the arm that held the weapon.

Z-3 heard and felt a very strong snap. Even he, a ranked assassin, couldn't always hold in a scream. The pain from his broken bone could be felt all through his arm. The weapon dropped to the ground and Z-3 held his arm close to his chest, biting his lip while his blood pulsed quickly in his veins.

_I have to get that weapon! It's the only thing I can use right now against him! _He made a grab with his good arm for the green rod that he dropped. _Sh-_. He didn't have time to pull back when Vlad pulled out his own pink rod and with great force he threw it down over Z-3's hand. The pink rod went through the middle of his hand, down into the ground, stopping him in place. _I can't move either of my arms, and my leg is stuck in the ground. I can hardly breathe too…it hurts too much. _

"Don't make me angry boy. I could kill you right now if I wanted to."

"You? Kill me!?" Z-3 grinned, "don't make me laugh!" He slammed his free foot down as leverage to pull his trapped foot up from the floor. Carpet and wood was yanked up through the ground along with him. "I'm much stronger than you, you freaking _fruit loop_!" Even with his arm broken, he wrapped his fingers around the rod sticking through his hand and pulled it out. Z-3 stood up, eyes shining with a green glow.

Vlad's eyes widened at the familiar nickname.

Both Vlad and Z-3 turned to look across the room, sensing a presence. "Ah," Vlad chuckled, "looks like we have some visitors. I think they're here for you."

Z-3 grit his teeth, eyes widening and even a bit of pink shown on his cheeks. "Damn it!" _Not them! Not her! Damn it! _Holding his broken arm steady, Z-3 took off at a sprint, running to a nearby window and breaking through it.

--

Sam blasted the door down with her large bazooka gun. If it were anyone else, she would feel bad about destroying their property, but she had no compassion for this guy. "Come on, Tuck'." She whispered, running inside. "He probably already knows that we're here."

"Which one? Vlad or Danny?"

"Both, probably. Keep moving."

"Sam! Above!"

Not taking a spare moment, she only reacted from instinct, aiming up with her gun and firing several times.

"Not bad, not bad. It's been a while, Samantha."

"Yeah it has," Sam glared, "I wish it had stayed that way."

Vlad descended from above, landing on the floor several feet away from the two teens.

Aiming her gun, Sam spoke, "where's Danny!?"

"Sorry to say that there was no 'Danny' here. The man who was here said that he had no name."

Sam gasped, "where is he!?"

"If he's still alive, then I would say he's miles away by now. You just missed him."

Shaking with anger, Sam snarled "what did you do to him!?"

"He came here to kill me, I was only defending myself." Vlad chuckled, "oh and in case you were wondering, young Daniel's target is not only me, but your group as well, so you might want to watch out."

"What!?"

"He's an assassin, young Samantha. The only reason he's here is because he was hired to kill."

Tucker barked furiously, "There's no way! Danny wouldn't ever kill anyone! You're lying!"

"Am I? Daniel always had the potential to be a villain, and now look at how far he's gone! And working for Zanar of all places, that's quite impressive."

"How would you know all this?" Sam demanded.

"I do research, Samantha. Daniel, called Z-3 now, has been working for the Zanar Organization for years."

Sam dropped her weapon to the floor; it landed with a loud crash.

"Sam!?" Tucker cried, "What're you-"

"_He's _Z-3!?" _The request I got from the GIW was to get rid of someone called Z-3_. "Tucker! The letter I got from the Guys in White! It was to destroy the person called Z-3!"

Vlad laughed, "Ah, this is getting more and more interesting. He has come to kill you and now you have been assigned to kill _him_!"

"Cut the crap, Vlad!" Sam scooped up her weapon again, "You probably had something to do with all of this!"

"Hm, I wonder."

Growling like a dog, Sam took a step forward, "You bastard!"

"Sam, don't! You'll just be doing what he wants! We should leave, we came looking for Danny, and he's not here, so there's no point in us being here. Don't fight him, we're no match."

"He's right, Samantha. You should try listening to your friend's advice once in a while."

"Screw you, Vlad! One of these days, I swear, I'll kill you!"

"Sam," Tucker muttered, "I just got another reading of Danny's ectoplasmic signature. I know where he is."

Sam nodded, both of them turned and left without another word.

--

Z-3 howled with agony as he poured alcohol onto his stomach wound. It was like needles were piercing his skin. He quickly wrapped cloth around it then started working on his hand. Again, the alcohol felt worse than the wound! Drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, Z-3 wanted to rest. His body was shaking a bit from the pain. One last thing, he told himself. He had to set the bone correctly so it wouldn't heal awkwardly. "Damn." He prepared himself.

Just touching the bone made him cringe, and right now, he had to fully grab it and slam it back into place with full force. If he hesitated at all, he might mess up and make it worse. He grabbed a mouthful of his shirt before doing so, in hope of muffling his cry a bit. His eyes widened when the bone was snapped back to normal, his vocal chords strained from his scream. Inhaling and exhaling deeply, Z-3 dropped to the cement ground, leaning his back up against the building he was behind. A large garbage bin was next to him, he could only assume the building was a restaurant.

It was really dark back here, the only thing awake at this time were the animals that scurried around for food scraps. Z-3 sat there for a long time, controlling his breathing and waiting for the dull throb in his wounds to stop.

--

"Sam, I'm sure he's fine." Tucker assured her, turning on the lights to their living room. "He's really good at surviving, you know that."

They had looked for Danny for hours, but didn't get any other ectoplasmic spikes on their devices, so they had no lead. "I'm just a bit worried, that's all."

"I am too. Sam, his ectoenergy right now is pretty much nonexistent, just because we didn't get any leads doesn't mean he's dead."

"Tucker, what could've happened to him!? What did he _ever _do to deserve this!? He protected this town from bad guys, he loved his family and friends, and he was a great person! Why the hell did he have to go through all of this!? He doesn't even know his name anymore! When I find the bastard that did this…"

"When _we _find that bastard, we won't hold back, we'll make sure he pays." Tucker smiled, "Don't worry. But first, we need to get Danny back as Danny."

Later that night, both Tucker and Sam were in their beds, but Sam was wide-awake. She held the small device close to her, watching it for any signals of Danny's whereabouts. At the sound of a small beep, Sam was up on her feet and ready to go.

--

_Damn it. I fell asleep outside? Pathetic. My wounds still hurt. I need to change the bandages so I don't get an infection. It's really cold out here. _His lips were dry and chapped; he weakly licked them in hopes of moistening them. He could hardly open his eyes. _That fight really wore me out. What the? Who is…_ He opened his eyes fully, and only about six inches away was the woman he had met before. "Gah!" He yelped with surprise, immediately allowing his instincts to take over and brought a knife up to her throat, the blade created a small cut along her skin. He didn't press very hard, but he held it ready to kill.

_I knew I shouldn't have underestimated her! She was probably here to kill me! _

"Calm down," she soothingly whispered, "I'm not going to hurt you."

He looked down at the white cloth wrapped around his arm, trying to shake it off.

"Stay still! I was wrapping it up!"

His arm continued to throb, and despite the uneasy feeling he had about her, he lowered his weapon, but didn't let go of it.

She continued to wrap his arm, and Z-3 felt very uncomfortable with her being so close. "Why are you here?"

"I heard that you were in a fight with Vlad. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine. So you can leave."

Sam looked up at him; he refused to even glance in her direction. "Can you at least _look _at me?"

He didn't.

"Hey, what did Vlad say to you?"

No reply.

"Did he mention anything about me?"

No reply.

"Are you going to even talk to me?"

No reply.

"_Danny_!" Sam barked.

At this, Z-3 turned to look at her, eyes wide with fear. "I told you-"

"Yeah, I know what you told me! You don't have to say it again! To me, you are Danny! Are you telling me that deep down you don't remember anything!? You don't remember me!? Look at me, Danny!"

"I _am_! I am looking at you!" He stared directly into her purple eyes, "You're beautiful, your eyes continue to taunt me and I can't stop thinking about that damn _kiss_! But I'm sorry! I _don't _remember you! All these things that you say to me, I can't recall any of them!"

Sam's lip trembled and tears gathered in her eyes, "I see. Well, just one last question. Are you Z-3?"

In the blink of an eye, Sam was on her back, Z-3 was pinning her down with the knife pointed to her throat again. His eyes were narrowed with caution and anger. "What do you know of it? If you know of Z-3 then I will have to kill you."

"Just answer me! Are you!?"

Biting his lip, Z-3 muttered "yes" under his breath. "What do you know of it?"

"Only what Vlad told me. I don't know anything other than that."

"Damn him." Z-3 was overcome with a wave of nausea, he leaped off of Sam and crawled a few feet away before coughing up a bit of food and blood, he clutched his wounded stomach.

"Whoa, are you okay!?" Sam went over to him, grabbed his hand and pulling it away from the wound. "Oh my god!" The burnt flesh was bleeding through the scabs that had formed a block on the hole in his stomach. "Hang on." She grabbed several rolls of white cloth and bandages from her jacket, "let me help you. They'll get infected otherwise!"

Z-3 was still wearing his button up shirt from the other day. Several of the buttons had already come off during the fight. But Sam had to unbutton the rest of them to fully see the wound where she immediately got to work. Z-3 had to admit that she was doing a better job at bandaging than he had. "Don't cry!" he finally barked, cringing at the tears rolling down her face.

"I still can't believe it…"

"Look, I'm not here to comfort anybody, I'm not here to become _friends _with anybody! I'm here to finish my job and go back to HQ. That's all. So just give up and leave me alone! You're only making things worse!"

"I have no intention of making you comfort or become friends with me. But I will not give up on you and I won't leave you alone just like that! I don't care if you don't remember me, I will do whatever I can to help you, no matter what!"

Z-3 brought the knife up again, "shut up, or I'll kill you. I'm tired of you telling me these things! All you'll be doing is getting in the way! I have to complete my mission. I live to serve Zanar! And to kill anyone who gets in the way!"

"Do you really plan on killing me!?"

"If I have to!"

_He doesn't know yet…does he? Vlad mentioned that Danny is an assassin, and he's been assigned to kill me. If he knew that…would he not hesitate to kill me? I want to believe that he would somehow return to his old self and leave Zanar… _Sam sighed. _But maybe he remembers other things from the past…_ "Danny, uh, Z-3, whatever you're called. Do you remember anything at all from before you joined Zanar? I mean, is there any faces that you remember, or do you have any…strange _abilities _that you can't explain."

"No. None."

Sam bit her lip, thinking of that day so many years ago when the Fentons bodies were found. "I guess that's all I needed to know." She stood up, having finished patching up his wounds. "If you need a place to stay, we'll gladly let you come home. It's not hard to miss. It's a building with a sign that says 'Fenton Works'."

"It's really stupid of you to tell me that information, you know. I'm hired to _kill _people!"

"I know." With that, she walked away.

A/N: I apologize from the bottom of my heart for not updating sooner! School is hell for me right now and I haven't gotten much free time. I love this story and I write whenever I can! Hopefully it won't take me as long to update the next chapter!


	5. Teamwork

Shattered Tears

Chapter 5: Teamwork

-5 Years Previous-

"You shouldn't do that." Charles pointed out, "You'll just hurt yourself."

Not responding, the teen continued to bump his head against the wall. The boy, 14 years of age, sat down on the floor, leaning up against the solid as rock wall, bringing his head forward and back repeatedly, a small thump could be heard each time.

"Do you need anything?"

Still, he didn't respond. The boy's eyes lazily stared forward like a corpse, gazing at nothing in particular. His skin was so pale and thin, which was to be expected, since he hadn't eaten anything lately.

"You'll die if you keep this up." Charles walked up to the boy and sat down next to him. "Do you want to die?" He sighed, "come on, let's get you something to eat, you'll feel better."

"My…head…" The teen whined.

"Yeah, it probably hurts because you keep hitting it!" Charles snapped.

"The maze…where are they? Why is it empty here?" He took long breaths between his words, as though losing the ability to speak. Although his words were mostly gibberish, Charles couldn't help but feel bad for this kid. "Master…are they gone?"

Charles looked at the teen, "Master? Is that what you called me?"

His eyes grew wide, the faint blue colour in his eyes dulled with his words, "I live to serve Zanar. Master…"

"Hey, Hey!" Charles smacked the teen across the face with his hand, "snap out of it. Don't say that. You are not a tool. You can decide for yourself. Okay?"

"Master. Did I do something wrong?"

"And don't call me Master! I'm no one's master!"

"I'm afraid."

Charles cringed, seeing the tears begin to soak the boy's eyes. "Hey, hey, take it easy." He softly said, "I'm sorry if I got mad. Listen. Can you listen to me? I've been assigned to take care of you for now, you already knew that, so I'll be staying by you. I know things are scary right now, I know you can't remember anything, but I need you to hang in there and don't lose yourself. If you try to think too much about your lost memories then you'll just drown in darkness."

"Yes, Master."

"Stop saying that." He dully repeated. "Come on. Let's go eat. You need it." Charles stood up.

Several minutes later, in the cafeteria, the teen boy couldn't help himself; he started digging into everything he could get his hands on. Charles chuckled.

"Master." The boy quietly said as he took a break from stuffing his face, "I…I don't want to die."

Smiling, the adult replied, "That's good. I was worried there for a bit. I'll tell you what, until you regain your strength completely, I'll protect you so that you won't die. But you have to promise that you'll try your best to get stronger and be able to protect yourself, deal?"

The boy nodded, the corner of his mouth twitching up the slightest bit, it wasn't exactly a smile, but it made Charles happy.

-Present Time-

This had to be it. There was no mistaking. Z-3 looked up at the giant sign and walked forward, his hand on his gun the whole time. He went up to the door and tested the knob, expecting it to be locked and then he would have to break in, but he was surprised when it was unlocked. He opened it a bit, looking left and right before slipping inside. He listened for footsteps, there were none. But he could hear someone in the basement.

He had no idea what made him come here. He could easily find a place to stay and find his own food, so why come here? Sam had invited him to this place, but he really didn't expect to listen to her. It was last night that she had treated his wounds, Z-3 convinced himself that he needed to thank her tonight for what she had done. It was nearing dinnertime, Z-3 noticed; he really needed to find something to eat to regain his strength.

Z-3 looked over into the kitchen, nobody was there either. This place had a certain smell to it that Z-3 recognized; it was odd but definitely familiar.

Z-3 heard footsteps coming up from the basement, he quickly went behind a couch. When he heard the footsteps heading closer to him toward the kitchen, he jumped up with his gun pointing forward. "You move and you die!" He snarled, glaring in warning at the African American boy. He figured that this was Tucker, the one that Sam had mentioned. The same sick feeling came into his stomach, he felt the need to lower his weapon but managed to stay strong and hold the gun at him.

"Holy crap…" Tucker put his hands in the air, "she wasn't kidding… it really is you!" Tucker let out a small chuckle of disbelief. "It's been a while, huh Danny?"

"If you say that name again I swear I'll fill you with bullet holes!" Z-3 looked left and right, "who else is here?"

"Nobody, just me."

"I see." Z-3 came out from behind the couch, not taking his eyes off of Tucker nor putting his gun down. "Who else lives here?"

"Just me, Sam and Valerie, and in a way…you live here too, Danny."

Z-3 narrowed his eyes, "I told you I'm not Danny! I'm called Z-3!"

Tucker nearly laughed at that, "What kind of a name is that?"

"You seem pretty calm for someone who has a gun pointed at them."

"If it was anyone else I'm sure that I would be afraid. Sam told me what happened, I know that you can't kill us even if you want to, right? You are her seem to get along, in some ways, I suppose."

Z-3 felt his cheeks turn a bit red when he remembered that he and Sam had kissed a little while back. The whole thing was very sudden. "Nothing happened! You've gotten the wrong information."

"Sam didn't think it was nothing."

"I recommend you keep your mouth shut."

"Hey dude, no need to get angry."

Z-3 felt his ear twitch slightly; he heard a car door close just before he heard footsteps leading toward the house. He pulled out a knife, pointing the knife at Tucker now and aiming the gun toward the door. The moment the door opened the person froze in place. "State your name and your business here!" He immediately demanded.

With eyes as wide as saucers, Valerie dropped her keys, staring wide-eyed at the man holding a gun to her head. "Holy crap! Danny!! You-you're-!" She continued to stare at him in disbelief. "I'm dreaming. I just know it! Tucker!! Wh-"

"Long story. Not now, okay?"

_Does she not notice the gun aimed at her head? _"State your name and business!" Z-3 repeated.

"Valerie. I live here." She walked all the way into the house and closed the door behind her, "now can I ask what you're doing here? And why are you pointing a knife at Tucker?"

"Hey, you shouldn't be talking!" Tucker said, "you've got a _gun _at you!"

"One of you answer me!" Z-3 interrupted, "tell me where I can find Sam."

"Dunno. But let's all just calm down for now, okay?" Valerie recommended.

Tucker smirked. He had to admit Valerie was probably the only one of them that could take on any situation no matter what. Even though Valerie had no idea what was going on, she was acting so casual, it amazed Tucker. She was probably so confused, Tucker thought to himself, but she was taking everything so well. "Hey, Z-3 is what you're called, right?" Tucker asked. "You are looking for Sam, right?"

"Don't make me repeat myself!" Z-3 barked.

"She's not here right now." Tucker said, "I can call her if you want."

"Where is she!?"

"Calm down, dude. We don't know."

Z-3 narrowed his eyes before lowering his gun and knife and taking a full sprint across the room toward the nearby window, thankfully it was open and he jumped out with ease.

Tucker stared in shock at his friend. "That was _not _human speed! I couldn't even see him moving!"

Valerie's face drained of all colour and she fell to her knees. She had kept from reacting like this the entire time, not wanting to create more trouble at the time. "Tucker…was that really…"

"Yeah, that was Danny."

Her eyes filled with tears and she let out a low chuckle, "I can't believe it…after all these years…"

Tucker smiled at her, helping her stand up, "I know that's not exactly the sort of welcome you were expecting. Here, let's get you something to drink. So um…how was your trip?"

"No way am I going to just brush off what I just saw! You need to explain!"

"Ugh. It's better if Sam does. She knows more about the situation than I do."

--

Never before did Z-3 think that he could get bored on his mission. This was not like any other mission before. He wasn't motivated to do more research about his targets and didn't feel ready enough to go back and fight Vlad Masters yet. Right now, he felt bored. He knew in his heart that he wanted to see that woman again. She had introduced herself as Sam before. He wanted to thank her for helping him the other night. He rarely thanked people; in fact, Z-3 could only remember thanking his Master in the past.

Although he wanted to see her, he knew that it was wrong of him to see anyone. Nobody was supposed to know of him. He was an assassin. He was hired to kill people and not be seen or caught.

It was very sudden that Z-3 felt a shiver roll up his spine. He recognized the sensation; it was similar to when he had been fighting Vlad Masters. That uncomfortable feeling like he was being watched.

"Well, well, well! Looks like I've found some decent prey." A low, over confident voice echoed in Z-3's ears.

"Oh shut up, Skulker." A female snapped, "I want to head back now." She had a dark melody flowing between her words.

Z-3 turned sharply, looking up into the sky and seeing two figures. One was a large metal man with broad shoulders and very small legs, a green Mohawk that was made of fire ran down his neck. Next to him was a much thinner figure of a woman with electric blue hair and black clothing, she held a purple electric guitar in her hands.

"No way!" The woman barked a laugh, "it's the dipstick ghost kid! Haven't seen _you _in ages!"

The metal man let out an annoying grunt, "that can't be him. He died years ago."

"So did you, you big idiot!" The woman turned to Z-3 again, "hey! Dipstick! It is you, right!?"

"I don't know who you're talking about. You must be mistaking me for someone else." Z-3 told them.

"See, Ember? Told you!" The man said, the woman had called him Skulker and he had called her Ember. Such strange names. Skulker continued, "no matter. You shall be my next prey!"

Ember rolled her eyes, "after this, can we go home, Skulker!?"

"Yes."

"Thank god!" Ember focused on Z-3, bringing her right arm up, steadying her guitar with her left hand on the neck of the guitar. "Let's get this over with!" She struck the chords powerfully, in fact, so powerful that purple sonic waves echoed out from them, crashing into Z-3 and pushing him back.

_What was that!? _Z-3 said to himself. _That wasn't a normal attack! _

Two large guns retracted from Skulker's shoulders, aiming at Z-3 and firing several rounds. Z-3, being a master at dodging bullets, dove forward into a roll and came back up, quickly jumping to the left and then turning right with skilled footwork. Another set came after him. With this, Z-3 dropped down to all fours like a cat, and he let out a cry from the pain in his arm. _Damn. I forgot it was broken. _Sam's wrapping had done well to hold it together, but with the right amount of pressure, the pain was back and throbbing all along his arm.

Z-3 spun around, sensing someone behind him. Ember grinned, standing only two feet away from him. She raised her guitar and swung it like a baseball bat. Z-3 ducked, managing to avoid the attack, but when he tried to kick her away with his foot, she vanished from sight. _Damn, just like Vlad. What is it with people and strange abilities in this town! _

Skulker jumped up from underground, becoming tangible and wrapping his large hand around Z-3's broken arm, pulling him up off the ground a bit. Z-3 grit his teeth in pain, trying to pry himself from the metal man's hand by punching and kicking, but nothing worked.

"You can't be him, you're much too weak. You do look like him though."

Z-3 kicked Skulker as hard as he could in the chest.

"That won't do any good. Regular humans can't damage my body. You can't even put a dent in it!"

_I can take down a mob boss in ten seconds. I can take down a military officer in half that time! Any human in general, I can defeat them! But since arriving here, I've encountered nothing but people with unnatural abilities and creatures like this guy! I've received no training on how to defeat someone like this! I'll have to think of a different strategy! _

Skulker raised his other arm, delivering a bone crushing punch to Z-3 stomach. Saliva and specs of blood spewed from his mouth from the impact. _Shit. There has to be a weak spot on him. _

"Skulker, this is already boring. This guy's pathetic. Let's leave him."

Z-3 brought his leg up and pressed it right between Skulker's arm and shoulder, kicking away with as much force as possible and then twisting his entire body to the right so that Skulker's arm twisted as well. The plan worked better than Z-3 thought it might. Skulker's entire arm rotated just enough that his grip loosened and Z-3 jumped away from Skulker's hand.

_At least five hundred pounds of metal, based on the strength of his grip and considering the fact that he's hollow as well as taking into account the guns that were stored in his body from before. His legs however are probably his weakest point. _Z-3, despite the fact that it hurt like hell, dropped to the ground, catching himself on his hands and throwing his legs out, kicking Skulker's legs so that he lost his balance and fell.

"Looks like the kid can fight after all." Ember grinned. "Get up, Skulker. You look stupid on the ground." She placed her hands on the guitar, "I've been wanting to try some new moves. Hey Dipstick! Take this!" She threw her hand against the strings of her guitar, it was a wonder that they didn't snap, and created another sonic wave. This one, however, was slightly different than the last. The waves began to take shape as they rushed toward Z-3, forming an overly large clawed hand.

"What!?" Z-3 barked in confusion at what he was seeing. The hand came up and slammed Z-3 down into the cement like a person squishing a bug, pinning him there. It continued to press against his body, threatening to break his bones with the increased pressure.

"Interesting," Ember looked at her hand, "I can't even feel your ectoplasm, but the fact that it is able to pin you down is proof enough that you have some!" She closed her hand a bit, which caused the large ectoplasmic hand on Z-3 to close as well.

_What to do, what to do. _Z-3 ignored the pain in his body, focusing only on the possible escapes. _I'm nowhere near her right now. I can't attack in my position. Her hand controls this thing. I need to stay aware of that metal guy, he might attack as well. Damn. This is difficult. _He let out a gasping cough, trying to suck in air while being crushed by this strange ability.

"Hey, Ember!" A voice called from above.

Skulker, Ember and Z-3 all looked up at the strange flying board in the shape of a V.

"We have a score to settle, remember!?" The woman called toward the rock star.

"Yeah, wait your turn!" Ember barked. "I'm nearly done with this guy."

A beam fired toward Ember, which shot her in the hand. The female ghost cursed and held her hand to her chest as it sizzled and burned. The hand which held down Z-3 was released the moment Ember's hand was struck. "Oops," Sam muttered, "my bad."

Z-3 rolled over, coughing loudly. "I'm starting to understand your abilities." He muttered to himself, referring of course to his ghost opponents. He looked up at Sam, feeling his heart swell a bit with happiness.

"Hey!" Sam descended a bit, calling out to Z-3, "is it against assassin's rules to work with others?"

Z-3 chuckled, standing up and calling back, "We prefer to work alone, but once in a while, it's nice to have teamwork!"

Sam grinned. "Alright then," she tossed him a large, but amazingly light, gun. "I'm guessing you know how to shoot one."

Z-3 caught it, steadying it with his hands, "what kind of assassin would I be if I couldn't shoot a gun?" He fired three rounds. The gun jerked back with each shot, making his broken arm twitch with agony. Each round hit the target. One burrowed into Ember's thigh, one into her gut and the last into her shoulder. Z-3 was surprised when green began to spill rather than red, and was even more surprised that she remained standing.

Sam followed up by firing a large glowing net out of her board. The net wrapped around the ghost, but not for long. Her hair began to blaze furiously, like fire with gasoline. She let out a snarl. "Did you think that would get rid of me!?" She played several chords on her guitar, but the waves from it couldn't be seen.

Sam's eyes widened, "Danny! Careful! The attack is invisible!"

It was already too late. Z-3 had already been hit with another strange power.

Ember laughed, "how's that!?"

Z-3 blinked repeatedly, looking up and around all over the place. "What…"

"Danny!? Are you okay!? What did that do?"

"I can't…I can't see!" He could vaguely make out blobs of colour, but not enough to tell who was who. "Everything's a blur!" He let out a grunt when Skulker punched him, sending him backward and skidding across the road. _I forgot about that guy! I didn't even know he was near me! Damn. I could probably still have the upper hand if I were fighting a normal human. I could just use the vibrations from their footsteps and their breathing and heartbeats to tell where they are. But these guys have none of those. They sometimes float, therefore they have no footsteps and they are dead so they don't breathe or have a heartbeat! _Z-3 quickly picked himself up off the ground.

"Danny! Watch out!"

Z-3 was hit over the head painfully, stars exploded in his head and he could almost instantly feel the headache rocking his brain.

"Danny! To your right!"

Z-3 took her words in immediately, throwing his upper body down and sidestepping to the left in order to avoid being hit. He could feel the swoosh of Skulker's fist in the open air near him.

"He has a gun, six bullets! To your right!" The bang of the gun erupted right after her quick warning.

He leaped backward, closely avoiding the mass of bullets aiming at him.

Ember let out a growl of fury. "Let them fight! I remember that we have a score to settle! So let's do this!"

"You wish! You can't attack Danny and then leave Skulker to finish him off!" Sam barked. "Danny, can you hear me! Come this way! Hurry!"

Unlike these creatures, Sam was human so he could tell where she was with his remaining senses. With no difficulty, he ran toward her. Sam jumped off of her board, examining Z-3's eyes quickly to see the damage. "It's not too bad," she assured him, "just temporary. It should wear off soon."

"Until then, you'll have to talk me through things, I can't sense where they are."

"Alright."

Ember advanced on the both of them, standing on her guitar as though it were a skateboard while it hovered above the ground. She charged both of her hands with energy.

"Down!" Sam hissed at Z-3. They dropped to the ground to avoid the oncoming punch, but they weren't out of danger yet. "She's coming back around, follow me." Sam grabbed onto Z-3's hand to guide him along with her, she took off at a run with Z-3 trailing closely behind her.

Ember quickly steered her guitar into a U turn after they avoided her attack, "I don't much like having to chase people. Come on and fight me!"

"You're beginning to annoy me." Sam barked, aiming her gun and firing several rounds. She wasn't aiming at Ember. She pointed the gun toward the ground and the bullets exploded into large clouds of smoke.

"Hiding now, are you!?" Ember growled, "I'll still be able to find you!"

Sam pulled Z-3 close to her again, examining his eyes once more, "can you see anything yet?"

"A bit." He replied, "not much though."

"Can you see well enough to help me fight her? I have an idea."

Z-3 nodded, "I'll do what I can."

The smoke remained in the air, Ember turned left and right in search of the teens. Her flaming hair had died down a bit, leaving her at average power. She heard Sam running toward her. "There you are." She grinned, holding her guitar tightly, and getting ready to play a few chords. She had expected Sam to fire a gun or pull out a weapon of some sort, but Sam didn't. She lunged at Ember, grabbing a hold of both of her hands to keep her from playing any music. Then, Sam kicked Ember's knee, forcing her to stumble backwards where Sam then pinned her to the ground.

Ember was about to turn intangible to escape from Sam's strange method of attack.

Z-3 stood ten feet behind the girls. Ember didn't notice him. In his hand he held a thermos. _So all I have to do is open this? She very strictly told me to point it at them and keep it facing away from me. Is it a powerful weapon? Doesn't seem like it. _Z-3 unscrewed the top and pointed it at Sam and Ember.

Ember's eyes turned a bit wide at the familiar blue beam. "You cheated!" She hadn't even thought about the Dipstick being over there. If she had known the thermos was there, she probably would've been able to avoid the blue beam.

The beam didn't affect Sam at all, but Ember was pulled toward the thermos through the light and was sucked inside. Z-3's eyes became very wide in shock. As soon as Ember was inside, he capped the thermos, trapping her in there. "What the hell was that!?"

"Danny, behind you!"

Skulker raised his arm, knocking the thermos away from Z-3; it didn't open, but did manage to roll away from him. "You'll pay for that."

Z-3 backed away from Skulker, closer to Sam. His eyesight was for the most part cleared up now, still a bit fuzzy though.

"Danny, here!" As though in sync, Sam tossed her gun to Z-3, who immediately caught it and fired three rounds at Skulker and then tossed it back to Sam. The hover board was above their heads, just floating there. Z-3 and Sam turned to face each other, he dropped to one knee, creating a step with his hands for Sam to put her foot on, and she was launched into the air by Z-3 and gracefully landed on the V shaped board.

"Danny!" She called. He nodded to her. She flew down to him at a great speed, where he made a quick jump onto the board just before she went up into the air again. "Aim for Skulker's head, okay?"

"Gotcha." He grabbed onto the gun that she held out to him. Skulker jumped into the air, coming after them. "Get ready!" Z-3 barked, leaping off the board. He free fell for several seconds but met Skulker halfway, kicking the metal man with as much strength as possible so that they both began to plummet downward. He brought the gun up, placing it between Skulker's eyes and firing two quick rounds.

Z-3 raised his good arm up and Sam made a quick loop toward him, grabbing onto his hand to catch him before he landed on the ground. Skulker crashed into the cement below. Sam pulled Z-3 up onto the back of her board.

The wind blew into Z-3's face and he couldn't help but admit to himself that he enjoyed being in the air; it was a nice feeling. "Is he dead?"

"Skulker? No, that won't kill him. He'll probably escape to the ghost zone and rebuild himself."

_Ghost Zone? _"These creatures are difficult to defeat."

Sam brought the hover board down to the ground and they both stepped off.

"It's easier if you have the right equipment." Sam gave a light smile, "thanks for the help."

"Thank you for helping me last night." Z-3 gave a light bow of respect before turning to leave.

"W-wait, you're leaving?"

It was so sudden, Sam noticed, that the lively light in his eyes vanished from sight. He seemed different than a few minutes ago.

"I'm of no more use here. It's against our code to be around others. If I stay around people too long, they will begin to influence me with their ways. That is unacceptable. I need to complete my mission here as soon as I can."

"Cut the crap, Danny! Don't start with that again! You don't mean that, I know you don't!" Just when she had started to see him pull his head out of his turtle shell, he just as quickly dove back into hiding his emotions. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to! You're allowed to hang out with new people and make friends!"

"I exist to serve Zanar. You, a mere human, couldn't possibly understand that. It's best for you if you distance yourself from me."

With tears building up in her eyes, Sam couldn't help herself; before she realized what she was doing, she smacked Z-3 across the face with her open hand. "Don't you dare say that! I finally get to see you again after all this time, and you're trying to push me away!? Is that what you _really _think!? Or is that Zanar talking!?"

Fuming up with anger, Z-3 took a step closer to Sam, "don't speak ill of Zanar! You know nothing of them; you have no right to judge! They raised me and taught me everything I know! I'm alive thanks to them! The least I can do is honor their ways and follow their orders!"

"_They_ didn't raise you! All they've taught you is how to be their weapon! Your family and the friends you grew up with are the ones that raised you! They loved you so much!" Her voice continued to rise into a yell. "For you to forget about their love and kindness is a disgrace! Your parents! Your sister! How can you possibly think that some damn organization is better than them! You idiot!" She was ready to smack him again, but he caught her hand before she could.

"Stop filling my head with these outrageous ideas! All I remember is my life at Zanar! These parents and sister that you claim are mine do not exist in my memories! I can't believe it if I don't remember!"

"And that is why you are an idiot! Ignore what your mind is saying to you, for once! Listen to what your heart is saying! Please, Danny! Look at me and tell me what you feel!!"

Sam was shocked when Z-3's voice hitched a bit. "Shut UP!" A single tear rolled out of the corner of his eye, hardly noticeable, especially at this late hour, but Sam still saw it. "Just shut up!" He didn't recognize this pain in his chest, like his heart was twisting around. Z-3 had experienced physical pain many times during his missions and training, and he could block out the pain quite well…but this pain was different. Zanar hadn't taught him how to deal with this. It hurt. He couldn't wrap it in a bandage or block it out of his mind. _Shut up, please. _He wanted to say to her. _You're hurting me…_

"Fine." Sam lowered her head, "I'll leave you alone. If that's what you really want, Danny." Sam took a step back, "your friends, unlike Zanar, will always welcome you home, no matter what has happened."

"I just want to complete my mission and go home."

"If this is the last time you want to see me then you might as well get this over with now." She put her arms out, surrendering herself to any attack.

Z-3 was confused by her words and actions.

"I know that one of your target's is the Black Huntress. Well, here I am. I'm the Black Huntress."

There was silence in the air for several long moments. Z-3 stared at her, wanting this to be a joke. When he realized that she was telling the truth, he grit his teeth and whipped out his Zanar gun. "You shouldn't have said that. Do you want to die!?"

"Of course not." Sam's moist eyes stared directly into his. "If you've really lost yourself, Danny, then go ahead and shoot. I know that you're not a weapon, you're human, but if you truly believe that your existence is for Zanar then there's no stopping you."

Keeping his eyes firm, Z-3 darkly said, "You should've stayed away from me."

The next thing Sam knew, her eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground.

A/N: Okay, I very much disliked writing this chapter. The whole scene in here was way cooler in my head, but when I typed it all up, it sounded weird. I tried my best to fix it up and make it better. Constructive criticism is very much appreciated!


	6. Human

Shattered Tears

Chapter 6: Human

"If you've really lost yourself, Danny, then go ahead and shoot. I know that you're not a weapon, you're human, but if you truly believe that your existence is for Zanar then there's no stopping you."

Keeping his eyes firm, Z-3 darkly said, "You should've stayed away from me."

The next thing Sam knew, her eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground.

Z-3 looked down at her unconscious body, biting his lip with great force. He looked at his gun. Although he had not shot her, he felt bad. Instead, Z-3 had struck her with the end of her gun, knocking her out instantly. "I should kill you now." He said to her, knowing that she was unable to hear him. "I should, yet I can't. Why the hell can't I kill you." He reached down and picked Sam up, holding her gently in his arms. Ignoring the throb of his broken arm and the multiple other injuries he received during the fight against Skulker and Ember, Z-3 began to walk in the direction of Fenton Works.

He wasn't too cautious with his entrance, not feeling like there was a threat. Z-3 noticed immediately that there were a few cameras set up in the house, probably to see if he showed up again. Z-3 continued to hold Sam, looking directly at the different cameras, almost with a glare as though to show he wasn't trying to hide from them.

Z-3 went to the nearby couch, and put Sam down as gently as he could. He then proceeded to sit down next to the couch, letting out a deep sigh of exhaustion both physically and mentally. He reached into his pockets, and pulled out a few weapons that Sam had dropped during the fight, he placed them on the coffee table a few feet from the sofa. _What am I supposed to do now? _He ran his fingers through his hair roughly, feeling a bit strange under the view of those cameras. The other two that lived here were probably keeping an eye on him with those at this very moment.

He could tell that nobody was in the basement. Perhaps there were other places in the house that they could hide. After about five minutes of sitting in silence, Z-3 got up and walked to the kitchen counter where there was a first aid box, he carried it over to Sam and sat down beside her again, pulling out some bandages and quickly getting to work on her wounds. They were minor wounds. He then went to the kitchen again and grabbed a cloth, soaking it in cold water before going back to Sam and putting it on her head. "Sorry." He quickly apologized, referring to when he hit her across the head.

Without realizing it, his hand lingered on her head even after he applied the cold cloth. His fingers brushed against the side of her face gently, and he pushed her hair away from her face, all the while staring at her with calm, curious eyes. "Damn it." He quickly took several steps back and sat down on the carpet floor, pulling out his gun and examining it. It seemed perfectly fine, but he just wanted to make sure.

Sam shivered a bit. Z-3's eyes scanned the room and he didn't see any blankets. Not wanting to intrude any further, he didn't go search for a blanket. Instead, he pulled his coat off and draped it over her. It wasn't the greatest of coats; it was thin and very flexible, so it was perfect for combat, but not great for warmth.

"Hey, um," he spoke up, looking directly at the camera, "is anyone there?" It was so weird to speak this way, "she's injured. I'm not very good at first aid. Can you guys come help her? Please." Turning his head, he bit his tongue gently. He hardly ever said please, but that was probably because he never asked for anything in general. He strictly followed orders for a living, without ever talking back or requesting anything.

Following his request, a large glass cylinder dropped down in the middle of the living room and a circular platform on the inside of said cylinder slowly came down, much like an elevator. On it were the two that he had met earlier. Z-3 remembered them saying that their names were Tucker and Valerie.

Once the platform hit the ground, the cylinder rose up, vanishing from sight. "Is she alright?" Tucker asked, immediately walking toward Sam and feeling her forehead.

"I don't know. She was shivering a bit." Z-3 didn't look up at them as they examined her. He could feel their eyes though; every few seconds one of them glanced in his direction.

"What happened?" Valerie asked.

"We were attacked by some ghosts."

Valerie leaned toward Tucker, "which ghost could it have been? Sam is able to deal with most of the ghosts she encounters. She usually doesn't get injured very bad." She glanced at the swelling on Sam's head, "this was a physical attack."

"That was me." Z-3 spoke up, still looking away. "She only had a few injuries from the ghosts."

Valerie glared at him, "Wait, you're saying _you _hit her?"

"Yes."

"Why the hell did you do that!?"

Z-3 didn't answer. He looked down at Sam once more. Feeling pain in his chest, remembering what she had said. _"I know that you're not a weapon, you're human, but if you truly believe that your existence is for Zanar then there's no stopping you." _"I'm human." He said out loud. "Do you hear me!" His voice rose a bit, "I'm human! And I know that!" He clenched his fist. "I'm not… I'm not a weapon!" A tear fell from his eye, "Don't ever think so low of me!!" In a fit of rage, Z-3 pulled out his gun once again.

Valerie and Tucker turned to face him completely, getting into a defensive stance.

But to their surprise, Z-3 didn't pull out the gun to shoot, he threw it away from him and it skidded to a halt on the opposite side of the room. Shortly after that, Z-3 turned and ran out of the house.

Tucker reached out his hand as Z-3 ran from the house, as though to try and grab him and hold him there. "Damn it."

"What was that all about?" Valerie inquired.

"We'll have to ask Sam about it once she wakes up, if she's willing to talk about it that is."

"Yeah. But still, I could hardly believe what I was seeing." She looked up at the camera, "he acted so cold to us earlier, but when he was with Sam just a minute ago, he really looked like he cared."

"I think he's started to warm up to her." Tucker smiled. "He threw his gun though. I have done a bunch of research on Zanar, I wasn't able to find much, its a very secret organization. But their weapons are highly valued. Not only are they each one of a kind and created specifically for the user, but they symbolize the loyalty to their organization. For him to throw it away…is he just angry, or does he really intend to leave that place."

Valerie widened her eyes. "Tucker, he's an assassin, right? Assassin's that fail a mission or abandon their organization are killed almost immediately. Or sometimes, they will kill themselves for bringing shame to their organization."

"Seriously!?" Tucker straightened up, looking at the front door. "So, is he…"

"I'm not sure."

"Let's hurry and get Sam better. She might be able to go and find him. Right now, we can't do much, he doesn't trust us at all." Tucker replied. Inside, his gut was twisting with both fear and anger. Fear for his friend's life, and anger at the Assassin Organization that Danny had become involved in.

Sam awoke with a splitting headache. The light in the room only brought more pain to her head. "Gah, someone turn off the lights!" She muttered strictly.

"Oh, sorry." Valerie ran toward the light switch, turning it off as requested. "How're you feeling." She put her hand on Sam's forehead to feel her temperature.

"What happened?"

"Danny, or I guess, Z-3 brought you here after he hit you on the head."

Sam widened her eyes, "Danny was here!?" She looked up at Valerie and all around the room, "he's gone, I assume."

"Yeah. But, once you're feeling better, I have to show you something."

"What is it?"

"The tape from the video camera that we had set up. We have the footage of Danny bringing you here. I honestly have no idea what to make of it. He really confuses me."

"I'm fine." Sam sat up, "show it to me."

"Yeah right. You can't even stand the light, you won't be able to look at a tv screen."

"No seriously, I'm fine. I need to see it." Sam assured her. Blinking several times to adjust her eyes.

Valerie walked Sam down to the basement where Tucker already was sitting in his chair.

"Oh, Sam, you're awake. Are you alright?"

"Yeah…Tucker, is that Danny's gun?"

It was true; in Tucker's hand, he held the Zanar gun, he was thoroughly inspecting it inside and out. "You should watch the tape. I won't be able to explain it well."

Tucker ran the recording on his computer of the events that had happened. Once Danny had departed from the house, Tucker turned off the recording.

Sam had her hand over her mouth, with tears building up in her eyes. She felt awful for yelling at him earlier. But she was relieved when he had said that he was human. "He threw his gun? Why would he do that?"

Tucker and Valerie looked at each other, "We were wondering about that too. Our conclusion is that he probably plans on leaving Zanar. But, if that's the case, we need to get to him as soon as possible. If the Zanar organization gets wind of this, then they'll target him until he's killed, or…he might even plan on killing himself. For failing his mission and abandoning Zanar, he might take his life to escape the shame."

"That's ridiculous! Danny wouldn't do that!"

"Danny might not, but this is Z-3 we're talking about. He's changed, Sam." Valerie stated, "we need to accept that."

"Yeah, I know that he's changed!" Sam barked, "but…he's still Danny! I've seen it! Earlier," she continued with a smile crawling onto her face, "when we were fighting Skulker and Ember, it was like old times! We worked as a team to defeat them! He's just afraid! We need to help him, you guys! I know we can! Come on, he can't have gone far! Let's go find him!"

"Sam," Tucker stood up, "you need to get better first. That hit on the head was pretty intense."

"I can't sit around knowing that Danny is in trouble! We need to get to him! Now!"

Z-3 felt so naked without his gun. Ever since it was put into his possession, he had kept it with him, and now he had abandoned his gun as well as Zanar. _I simply couldn't do it. I couldn't complete my mission to kill that woman. I would rather be killed having abandoned Zanar than live my life not succeeding my mission. For a mission such as this, I wouldn't be given a death sentence for failing, but my rank and pride would be taken away. Sooner or later, they'll send someone to check up on me, I've taken far too long here, and at that time, they'll find out that I've abandoned the organization. Zanar will do everything possible to destroy me and the information I have about them. _

"I'm sorry, Master." He apologized, "But, I guess I wasn't strong enough."

Sam, Tucker and Valerie all rode in the Specter Speeder, checking everywhere in town for Danny. Tucker of course drove, he was the best at driving this thing. "Sam, I don't think he's here anymore. We need to head back. We can look again in the morning. It won't do any good to keep looking this late."

"But he's out here, Tucker! I need to find him!"

"Sam," Valerie put her hand on Sam's shoulder, "you're not the only one who cares about Danny. But Tucker is right, we need to get some rest, especially you. We'll look again first thing tomorrow."

Sam sighed, looking down at the floor of the Speeder. "Do you guys think that he'll ever remember us?"

"Of course," Tucker grinned, "we just have to smack some sense into him and he'll be just like the old Danny again!"

Sam chuckled. "Yeah. Okay. Let's head back."

Z-3 hadn't gone far. In fact, he had gone about two blocks from Fenton Works and sat there for hours. Once the three of them had left, Z-3 went back to the house and walked in once more. Once again, he was aware that the camera was watching him and recording him, but he didn't care at all. They had other ways of finding out he was here anyway. But something had been bugging him when he had come here just a few hours ago.

He walked over to the table across the room that was up against the wall. On the thin table, there was some plants in pots and next to them was a picture. He had noticed the picture from afar earlier, and wanted a closer look at it. He picked up the entire picture frame, holding it close to his face.

Dropping to his knees as a gut wrenching pain struck him, the pain was not physical though; he lowered his head with sadness. In the picture, he could see a large man in an orange suit, a woman with orange hair wearing a blue suit, a girl with long hair the same colour as the older woman and she wore a black shirt and blue pants. Then he saw the girl and boy known as Sam and Tucker, and next to them, he saw himself, or rather, a younger version of himself.

Z-3 put the picture back on the table, taking a look at the others there as well. There were some with just Tucker and Valerie, some with just himself and Tucker, some with all of them…there were so many. "I don't remember." He whispered. "I don't remember any of it."

An alarm started going off inside of Fenton Works. Z-3 raised his head, looking in all directions for the source. He sprinted down to the basement where he could hear the alarm the loudest. Amidst all the equipment, weapons and computers, there was a portion of the computer that was taken over with red flashing words that said "Warning." _A warning of what? _He was almost sure that it wasn't him that had tripped any alarm. Numbers and words began to pop up onto the computer screen. Files of different people emerged. Z-3 managed to read a bit of it, each of the files with a person had their name, abilities and ranks from 1 to 10 along with several other things. _These are all ghost files. So why are they showing up now? _

Tucker was startled by the ringing on his PDA and he looked down at it. "You guys, we have a problem. The portal alarm went off."

"Crap! Hurry back, Tucker!" Valerie barked.

Tucker sped up, heading in the direction of their home.

The only times that the alarm would go off was if a strong ghost was approaching the Fenton Portal or had broken out of the portal already. For an average ghost, they would get a caution, but it wasn't an emergency. A strong ghost however needed to be taken care of immediately. The strongest that the teens had ever had to deal with as teenagers had been either the Ghost King or Dan, Danny's future self. Both of them had ranked as an 8 out of 10.

During the drive to Fenton Works, the teens all loaded their guns and made sure they were prepared for a fight. At the speed the Specter Speeder could go, it didn't take long to arrive.

"What the hell!" Z-3 raised his arms to block the debris that came flying in his direction. The strange circular metal door was broken open with great force. Green was the first thing that Z-3 noticed, everything inside of there was green. He focused on the person that came bursting into the basement. A beat up and bruised body skid to a stop across the floor. Then emerged a large mass of a black smoke-like substance, almost in the form of a human.

Z-3 stared past the black mass coming from the door. Staring into that odd green world caused his body to shiver, as though reclaiming an old memory and it gave him a homesick feeling.

The dark figure took a step toward the young girl that had been thrown into the room, but Z-3 wouldn't allow it to get any closer. He took a step in front of the girl and glared at the ghost creature with fury. He reached for a combat knife hidden in his clothes, ready to fight it.

Whether it was afraid to fight or it thought that a fight was a waste of time, the dark mass turned around quickly and went back through the portal. What Z-3 didn't realize what that his own eyes were gleaming brightly as he stood face to face with whatever it was, frightening it enough to make it retreat. Z-3 spun around and dropped to one knee, putting a hand gently on the girl that lay sprawled across the ground.

_She has to be a ghost, her appearance very much resembles one_. The female looked to be between 16 and 17 years old, but her hair was snow white coloured. Her outfit was quite strange, a mixture of black and white with wide pant legs and a tight shirt which exposed her stomach. The symbol on her chest was a white D with a P on the inside of it.

Z-3 felt for a pulse then checked to see if she was breathing. She was alive, that he was sure of, but he couldn't tell how damaged her body was. She looked very hurt though.

He tensed up when he heard footsteps race down to where he was.

"Danny!" All three of them said with surprise.

Tucker turned his head to look at the computer screen with the warning sign flashing. "Did any ghosts show up?"

"Only a strange dark ghost that ran away, and then this girl."

Tucker made a face. "That's odd. There's no way the alarm would go off for something like that." He stayed alert and cautiously walked to his computer where he began to look at what exactly had happened to cause the alarm to go off.

"Dani." Sam gasped, going right up to the girl and dropping to her side.

Z-3 scurried away from Sam like she was a deadly poison. _She seems to be alright. That's good. But, why is she not yelling at me or anything, I mean, I did hit her pretty hard on the head, she should have something to say about that at least!_

"Danny," Sam turned to him, "did you see anyone else besides her and the other ghost? Anyone at all?"

He shook his head no. "Do you…know her?" He quietly asked.

Sam nodded, "she's our friend. And…" she was about to say more, but decided against it. _Telling him that she is his clone is going a bit too far. I shouldn't mention anything about that yet._

"And she's your clone." Valerie finished.

Sam glared fiercely at Valerie. _Don't just say that, idiot! _

Rather than answer, Z-3 stood up and walked to the other side of the basement. "What's her name?" He finally spoke.

"Danielle." Sam answered, "she was…named after you."

Z-3 smirked, "this shouldn't really surprise me anymore. Nothing but weird stuff has happened since I arrived here." He paused for several minutes. "Those picture…upstairs…of us…when were they taken?"

All three of the teens are taken aback by his words. "About five or six years ago." Sam replied.

Z-3 looked across the room to where Tucker had placed the Zanar gun. Z-3 sighed to himself. _Sorry, Master. I betrayed Zanar. I don't feel horrible about leaving, but I feel horrible that I don't feel guilty at all._

_It's a nice name. _He thought to himself. _Danny. _Z-3 felt as though a boulder was lifted off of his shoulders as he rejected the name of Z-3. Now, standing in place of the assassin, was Danny.

Sam was about to speak when Danny took off, running up the stairs and out of sight, leaving the house and running all the way down the street at full speed. He silently drove his legs back and forth in a perfectly paced run, the wind tugged at his skin as he pressed forward into the night. A smile came to Danny's face. He felt like he could keep running for miles, he had never felt this light before or this free.

Pausing to gasp for air, Danny reached up to his neck. Beneath his shirt was the tag on a chain that wrapped around his neck where it had 'Z-3' written on it. The gun and this tag are what connected him to Zanar, proving that he worked for them. Danny pulled the chain off from his neck, smiling widely as he threw the chain with as much force as he could into the woods nearby. "I'm free." _I'm not a weapon. I'm not a tool. I'm not of Zanar. _"I'm human."

On the other side of the state, several hundreds of miles away from Amity Park, in the large building known as the GIW Organization, aka Guys in White Organization, there was a large section of the place surrounded with security. In the large room, there was an enormous, strange machine that hummed loudly. This place was completely off limits to everyone except the ones that worked directly with this strange machine. On the side of the humming contraption, it was written in large green letters "Phantom Project."

A/N: Three cheers for Danny finally acknowledging that his name is Danny!

Thank you all so much for your amazing support and lovely reviews! I always feel guilty that I'm not able to update sooner. School will be ending in a few weeks and then I'll have more time to update regularly. Any guesses on what the "Phantom Project" thing is about? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!


	7. Cornered

Shattered Tears

Chapter 7: Cornered

Danny. Danny. Danny. He kept repeating that name in his head. Each time he said it, he felt a little more like a human. While continuing to walk down the street in the middle of the night, he cradled his arm gently. It was still healing. This was so strange; he didn't usually get injured badly.

He wasn't sure where he was going, but he just kept walking around the town. He observed every building he saw, but recognized none of them.

_Did I really just do all of that? In a single day, I tossed my gun and my tag. I never thought that I would do something crazy like that. _Danny chuckled, _this town really is just messing with me. _

At one point, he came to a bench on the grass of a park meant for young children, with swings and slides and all sorts of strange toys. He sat down on the bench, leaning forward a bit and staring ahead. _She's really bad at hiding herself. _"Are you going to hide there all day or are you going to actually sit down?"

After a short pause, Sam walked out from behind some plants. "Dang, and I thought I was being sneaky." She chuckled and went up to Danny, sitting down on the bench with him, but staying far enough away so that he wouldn't feel trapped. "Hey, I know things are really crazy right now for all of us, but mostly for you. But, just know that you can talk to me, Tucker or Valerie about anything. We'll always be willing to help."

"Thank you for the offer, but I will be leaving soon, I can't stay in this city much longer."

"Is it because you tossed your gun?"

Danny nodded. "I've betrayed them." He cringed. "I betrayed Zanar…I betrayed Master."

"You didn't betray them! It was the right thing to do!"

"You don't understand!" Danny barked, causing Sam to flinch. "Right and wrong mean nothing to Zanar! Emotions are unacceptable! Relationships are unacceptable! Betrayal is unacceptable!"

"In other words, being _human _is unacceptable!"

"Yes!" Danny barked. "You wouldn't understand. You were raised in _this _place, where rules are easily broken and consequences are easily avoided. You don't know anything about the real world!"

Sam stood up from the bench, holding herself back from hitting him. "_I _don't know about the real world! Did you just say that! Do you think that _I've _never had anything bad happen! It's not like I was raised in a house filled with cotton-soft walls! I know pain! I've lived through many things! But unlike you, I am willing to take risks because I know what's right! You used to be like that! You used to break rules and fight against higher powers because _that _was the right thing to do! I may not understand your _new _life very well, but _don't _tell me that I don't know anything about the real world!"

"You don't know what I've been through!"

"You're right! I don't! But I can say the same to you!" Sam snapped, nearly breaking out into tears. She just wanted him to understand. She continued to hope that he would come to realize all of his lost memories!

Before she could even blink, Danny had stood up and a dagger was placed at the base of her throat. Danny glared at her with cruel eyes, the moonlight reflecting in his dark stare. "I've killed so many people before. If you continue to piss me off, I can't guarantee that my hand won't slip!"

Sam cringed at his words. The old Danny would never kill anyone…ever! "I thought that we already settled this. You can't bring yourself to kill me; I know you can't. Do you know why that is!"

Danny continued to glare, but he didn't reply, in his mind, he _was _curious why he couldn't bring himself to kill this woman!

"Because no matter how clueless of an idiot you were in the past…you can't deny that you _loved _me! And I loved…no…I _still _love you!"

There was a long pause between the two of them.

"I waited and waited! I continued to wait for you to come back! You weren't dead and yet…now that you've returned, it's almost like you _did _die! You can't even remember who I am!" Sam choked on her words, but kept a strong face. "And you still think that I don't know pain! Do you have _any _idea what it's like! To have the one you love come back and try to _kill _you! I still see the Danny that I remember from so many years previous, but you look at me and see a stranger! To think that you'll never get your memories back…to think that you're never going to smile again… To think that you're never going to love me again… that's what hurts me the most!"

Danny's eyes turned away from Sam and stared at the ground instead. "You talk about all of this, yet I can't comprehend the meaning behind your words! All of my knowledge today is what I've learned from Zanar. I have _nothing_ to rely on! I can't understand what you mean by 'love'! It's a mysterious word to me! This pain that you speak of, I don't know it! I only know physical pain and the pain of confusion!" He withdrew the blade from Sam's neck, lowering his arm steadily to his side. "But I feel different around you and those two others! And I don't know what to make of it! It's like when I'm with my Master…it's calming and I don't feel the need to be alert for enemies."

A smile of relief appeared on Sam's tear streaked face. "I'm glad."

"Why?"

"It's nice to think that you haven't completely forgotten about us in your heart. Tucker, Valerie and I are your friends. And we want you to think of us as friends." She wiped away her tears. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, I can't control myself sometimes." Instinctively, Sam took a step forward and wrapped her arms around Danny, pulling him into a tight hug. She was aware that Danny might find it strange, but she just wanted to feel close to him, even if it was for just a moment.

Danny held his breath while Sam hugged him, and he felt his face heat up. He held as still as a statue, allowing Sam to keep her arms wrapped around him. But not too long after, he brought his arms up and gently pushed her away. "Can you warn me before you do that?" He muttered.

Sam chuckled and sat down on the bench, "you're still as shy as you were before."

Danny sat down beside her. Things were silent for several minutes before Danny finally spoke up, "people keep mentioning that…I have an ability of some sort. What are they talking about?"

Sam turned to look at him, "Several years ago, when we were both fourteen, there was an accident in your parent's basement that gave you strange powers. You already fought Vlad Masters since arriving at Amity Park, right? Your powers are _very _similar to his. The big difference though is that you used your powers to help people and he uses his powers for his own gain."

Danny's eyes widened a bit, recalling his battle with Vlad Masters. That man had used some incredible techniques and had managed to defeat him with it. _I have abilities like that? _He didn't know whether to be angry or happy about this possibility. Danny couldn't convince himself that those powers existed within him, nothing strange had occurred that made him believe he could use those sorts of powers. He shook his head; _it's impossible._

"I don't expect you to believe me, but it's the truth. I have some pictures back at the house of the incident, but again, I don't expect you to believe it. If I were in your position, I wouldn't believe it either. All of us had some great adventures together, fighting ghosts to prevent them from hurting others, constantly getting into trouble, all sorts of things. But I enjoyed every moment of it." Sam smiled, staring up at the stars. She blinked several times from the throbbing in her head, it wasn't that bad anymore, but she was still in a bit of pain.

"I'd like to see those pictures, if possible." Danny muttered.

Sam turned to look at Danny, "really?"

"I don't know what is –" Danny's eyes narrowed suddenly and he fell silent, motioning for Sam to stay quiet. _Damn. There's someone in the distance. They're trying to hide, and they're doing a nice job of it. There's no doubt that they're from Zanar. _He whispered quietly enough so that the suspicious person wouldn't hear him, "there's someone in the distance. Don't do _anything_. I'm going to find out who it is. If you do anything suspicious, they will kill you without a second thought. And if possible, don't look in that direction. One of Zanar's rules is that we kill anyone who sees us."

Sam nodded, not frightened at all by what he was telling her.

"So, just stay here." Danny said before standing up slowly and he began to walk toward the trees. He had to walk several yards to get close enough to the person. Then he stopped, and spoke out with a clear voice, "B368-Z-42." That particular set of letters and numbers was the name of his mission, it was common for Zanar members to say the mission code name to prove that they were Zanar as well as a way of greeting peacefully with no intent to fight.

A boy no older than Danny stepped out from hiding and walked up to Danny. He was a bit shorter than Danny with short brown hair and brown eyes, he worse a full black outfit and had a sword attached on both sides of his hips. Danny recognized him immediately, "Z-6." He said, nodding to him. Z-6, obviously a member of Zanar, his real name was Xavier and he specialized with swords and knives while Danny, as Z-3 had specialized in guns and other fire-arms.

"Z-3, I was expecting you would notice me." Xavier nodded to Danny, but lowered his body a little more than just a nod, almost like a short bow to show respect to Danny because of his higher rank. "Master Z-2 has asked me to deliver a note to you."

Danny was handed an envelope, which he accepted but didn't open. "Is there any other reason for your appearance here?"

Xavier smirked, "I'm curious who that woman is. A friend of yours?"

Danny, unlike Xavier, didn't often joke around while on a mission and always took things seriously. "She is none of your concern, Z-6."

"I believe that an explanation is required. I will be giving a full report on what I witnessed the moment I get back to headquarters. This won't look good on the report." Xavier continued, "I suppose I could let it slide, I could say that she is strictly for _entertainment_ purposes, in which case we wouldn't have to kill her, probably."

Danny's eye twitched the slightest bit. _What should I say? I don't want him to put something so ridiculous in the report! Such an obvious lie doesn't need to be shared._ _But if she is anything more than that, Zanar will feel the need to get rid of her. _"I don't think it is necessary to put such twisted lies into your report. She is a friend of mine, and that's it."

At that statement, Xavier's eyes narrowed dangerously, "you are putting yourself in a dangerous position, Z-3. It would be wise of you to restate that sentence."

"And by doing so, I would be lying, which I don't plan on doing."

"You are not on vacation, Z-3! You are on a mission! Already you've taken far too long to complete this task! And you're telling me that _this _is the reason you're falling short!"Xavier crossed his arms and grabbed the hilts of both swords at his sides, unsheathing them and holding them up dangerously.

Danny knew exactly what Xavier was planning to do. "If that blade so much as scratches her, I _will_ kill you."

Xavier held his sword out in front of him, pointing it directly at Danny, "have you lost yourself, Z-3! We have orders to-"

"I won't say it again. If you hurt her in any way, I will kill you!" Danny meant what he said, and was confident with his words. Danny was wearing a button up casual shirt, and he reached his hand up and undid the first few buttons, showing that he no longer wore his Zanar Tag. "I am no longer following orders."

"You mean to leave Zanar! What the hell are you thinking!"

"I won't be bound by their rules any longer! And I will not allow you to hurt my friends! If you want to kill me, go ahead and try!"

"You've changed, Z-3. I have no choice but to clean up this mess!" Xavier lunged forward at lightning speed, bringing one of his swords down in a swift slice. Danny brought his leg up from the side and kicked the bladed weapon away from cutting him and then jumped up into the air, throwing his free foot forward to kick Xavier in the chest. Xavier was thrown back, grunting in pain from the kick.

"I'm much stronger than you, Z-6! You can't honestly think you have a chance! If you insist on continuing, I can't guarantee that you'll live!" Danny was serious, he knew that Xavier very well could die fighting him.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Z-3! I can see that you no longer have your gun."

Danny narrowed his eyes. It was true. Without his gun, he couldn't fight Xavier with his full power. Perhaps he had relied on that gun too much. He could still fight with the small weapons he held in his clothes, but that probably wouldn't be enough. "Then I guess this fight will be interesting." Danny launched off of his back foot, lunging toward Xavier and pulling out two combat knives from his pockets. He threw one of the knives at blurred speed, aiming for Xavier's heart. As he threw the knife, he could only hope that Xavier would block the weapon with his sword, otherwise it would be an instant kill.

To Danny's relief, the knife bounced off of the sword with a clash of metal and imbedded itself on the ground a few feet away. "You have orders to return to HQ! Don't make things any worse than they are!" Xavier growled fiercely.

"You can tell HQ to burn in hell! I'm not going back!" Danny replied sharply, and a small smile tugged at his lips. _My time here has been so strange and different, but I feel more free than ever before! I don't want to give that up! This is the first time someone has told me that they loved me, although I don't fully understand what that means, it is something I don't want to lose! I don't want to lose anything else! Fourteen years of my life has been taken from my memories already! Do you think I'll let you take the only possible connection I have to my past!_

"Do you realize what this means, Z-3! For you to leave Zanar! They will come after you and _anyone _you came in contact with! They will erase your existence completely!"

"I won't let them do that!" Danny barked. He charged at Xavier, pulling out a retractable rod from the inside of his shirt, it wasn't all that strong, but it would do fine for now. He brought the rod down upon Xavier, which was barely blocked by his swords. Danny then brought his foot up while still holding the rod and kicked Xavier on his left kneecap. A sickening crack echoed around them.

Xavier cursed and lost his balance. Danny brought the rod back up again and struck Xavier in the gut. All of the air in his lungs was forced out in one breath and he fell to the ground. "Damn it."

"I defeated you."

"Yeah right!" Xavier barked a laugh, "do you think I would go down that easily!"

Danny's eyes widened a bit as Xavier pressed a small button in his hand. _I didn't think of any traps that he could've set up. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised, Zanar teaches everyone how to effectively set up traps that can't be seen by anyone. Damn. I wasn't careful enough. _Small darts flew in toward Danny from all sides. It was convenient for Xavier, he was on the ground and therefore didn't have to worry about being hit, but Danny on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.

Although he did manage to dodge the majority of the small darts, at least five had dug into his flesh. The darts were quite small, only about an inch in length. But, that didn't change the effect that these small darts had. Being a previous member of Zanar, he knew very well what these darts were. They were poisoned. Not lethal poison, but it was known to cause slower reactions and could blur vision as well as make one sleepy, there were several possible effects.

Danny instantly began to yank them out, hoping that he could avoid the spread of the poison in his veins. "That was a smart move, Z-6." The places where he had been pierced were burning like a hot iron, and he could feel his body trembling the slightest bit. _I guess I shouldn't expect any less from a member of Zanar. _

Xavier stood up from the ground, having to put most of his weight on his right leg due to his injured left kneecap. "What's wrong, Z-3?" Xavier chuckled, "you seem to be losing it."

That statement was very true, Danny was wobbling in place, his eyes unable to fix on one object. "I have your darts to thank for that." Danny howled in pain when Xavier's blade sliced him across his left thigh. The colours of everything around him seemed to be changing a bit, and everything seemed to be spinning. "Damn." He pressed on the wound. It wasn't all that deep, but it was painful.

Once again, Xavier brought his sword down and cut Danny across his back, just enough to break the skin. Blood began to soak up in his shirt along the wound. Danny spun around and kicked, in hopes of kicking Xavier, but wasn't able to strike him. He was like a blind mouse in a field with an owl closing in on him.

Danny quickly closed his eyes. _I need to stop relying on my sight for now. It will only play tricks on me. I should be able to hear him, there are enough leaves and sticks around here to make noise. However, my reaction time seems to have slowed, but this will be better than nothing. _He waited until he heard a noise. Swift as a hawk, he pulled out a dagger from up his sleeve and launched it toward the noise. The knife hit its mark. Xavier let out a cry, the blade had struck him just below the rib cage.

"Damn it, how did-"

"Not much of the poison got into me," Danny replied, "plus, I was Z-_3_! Did you honestly believe that I would lose to you!"

Already, the poison seemed to be vanishing. Most of the time, the poison lasted long enough for the assassin to kill it's enemy which was only a minute at the most; this case, however, was quite different. Danny opened his eyes, blinking a few times in an attempt to clear his vision.

"You're still too dazed to tell what the hell is going on!" Xavier snarled, bringing up both of his swords to cut Danny. As his hands raised into the air, a shot was fired and Xavier's right hand began to bleed.

Danny turned around, noticing that Sam was not far behind him with a small hand gun up at eye level. She had shot Xavier in the hand.

"Sam! I told you to stay there!" Danny roared, "you can't be around here! He's too strong for you to-" His ear twitched a bit at the small whistling sound. He was quick to react. He brought his hand up and clasped his hand down on the sword that was thrown at Sam. The blade had been aiming to kill and had been going at bullet speed. As Danny wrapped his fingers around the sharp edges, it cut the inside of his fingers as well as his palms. His plan worked, it _did _stop the sword from hitting Sam, but it had a messy result. Blood was trailing all along the blade of the sword and ran down his forearm. Danny was surprised that his fingers had stayed on his hand.

Danny dropped the weapon and fell to his knees, pressing his hand up to his shirt to help stop the bleeding. Sam clasped her hand over her mouth in horror. "Danny!" She screamed. Very quickly, she pulled out two more guns, "if you move at all or do anything suspicious, I will kill you!" She held one gun in each hand, aiming both of them at Xavier's head. "Val!" She called out.

From the distance, Valerie flew in wearing her red and black outfit on her V shaped hover board. "Hear ya loud a clear!" She held what looked like a massive sniper's rifle. Valerie jumped off of her board as she got closer and ran toward Danny and Sam.

"I told you, Xavier, I told you not to hurt them! You are lucky that I was able to stop that sword of yours! But I won't forgive you!" Danny picked up the bloody sword from the ground, holding it in his still usable hand.

"Danny, wait!" Sam cried.

Danny charged at Xavier, sword in hand, but froze in place before he could get closer. His eyes widened. He could hear something. He looked at Xavier, who showed no emotion at the moment whatsoever. "Damn it! Get back!" He called out to Valerie and Sam. "Get back, _now_!" He jumped up and ran toward the two of them at full sprint. They didn't have enough time to get away from the area, so Danny crashed into the two of them, pushing them both down to the ground but remained on top of them as a bomb went off. A large fire dome was created and spread in all directions, scorching Danny, Valerie and Sam, but Danny got the worst of it. The bomb's fiery effect died away very quickly, but the smoke remained.

Several of the trees were lit up in flames. Lights all along the streets turned on and people looked out their windows to see what had happened.

Danny heaved in and out, unable to move due to the severe burns across his back. "Damn it… he got away…"

"What happened!" Sam asked, coughing from the smoke that filled her lungs.

"A bomb." Danny replied, with just as much difficulty breathing, "it was a distraction so that he could escape. He got the information he needed, so now he'll go back to Zanar Headquarters."

Danny rolled off of the two girls, holding his breath to avoid crying out. Valerie was the first to notice that Danny's back was completely black with burns. "Oh my god! Sam, help me!"

Both of the girls supported Danny, helping him to stand up and walk to their house.

Having to start treating the wounds immediately, both Valerie and Sam had placed Danny on his stomach on the table down in their lab's Clean Room. "This will hurt." Sam warned Danny in advance. She placed a cloth soaked in some sort of medicine across his back.

Danny's entire body tensed up with unbearable pain to the point that he couldn't help letting out a glass shattering cry of agony. He clenched his hands into tight fists and shut his eyes. While breathing heavily from the pain, Danny began to speak, "Sam…I'm sorry!" He kept his face turned away from her. "You told me to stop when I was attacking him, I'm sorry that I didn't…I was ready to kill him! And I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"

"Danny," Sam placed her hand on top of his, "don't worry. Just rest for now."

A/N: Yes, I am alive and well! In fact, I'm doing awesome now that school has just ended! To celebrate, I wrote up this chapter and have started on the next one, which should be up by next week! I apologize for the long wait! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And thank you all so much for your support!

And an extra thanks to my friend Xavier for letting me use his name!


	8. Overpowered

Shattered Tears

Chapter 8: Overpowered

_-Flashback 5 years-_

"Alright! Come on!" Danny snarled at himself, bringing his right hand up glowing with ectoplasm. Sweat dripped from his face and he heaved in and out for breath. He aimed at the target on the other end of the room and fired the built up ectoenergy. It seemed like a normal attack at first, but the moment it hit the target was when things weren't normal. In the past when Danny practiced with these targets, he would blast away the target when he hit it, that was normal, but lately, the target would blow up into thousands of pieces _and _the attack would keep going until it hit the wall and blow a hole in the steal-plated walls.

Danny cursed and dropped to his hands and knees. The floor around him was coated in ice and he could see his breath coming from his lips in small clouds. He closed his eyes tightly, hitting the floor with his fist with rage. Over time, his powers had become more and more difficult to predict. He hadn't had issues with his powers for so long! And now, all of a sudden it was just like the time he had just gained his abilities.

_I just need to practice more. I just have to keep working on my powers. _It was getting harder and harder to hide his problems from his family and friends. He didn't want anyone to worry. His ice powers were getting annoying though; he was constantly freezing the things around him. This was worrying him. He was scared that he might hurt one of his friends or family members with his out-of-control powers.

"Danny?"

Danny stood up quickly and spun around, taking a sigh of relief when he realized it was Jazz and not his parents. "What is it, Jazz?" He transformed back to his human form, but stayed several feet away from Jazz.

"I could hear you from upstairs." She looked at the wall where Danny had blown a hole into. "That's going to be a bit hard to hide from mom and dad." She stared at Danny for a bit before saying, "Danny, are you alright? You've seen a bit off the past few weeks."

"Huh? Oh, it's probably just your imagination! I'm totally fine!" Danny was one of the worst liars; Jazz could easily see that he wasn't alright.

"Okay, fine. But just know that you can talk to me whenever you want." Jazz shook her head with a sigh before leaving basement.

It was later than night that Danny was sitting on his bed and in his hand was a strange device with two rods sticking out of the front. He hated using this thing, but right now he was getting quite desperate. This device was very similar to the device that Vlad had used on him several months ago, but the difference was, Vlad's device sealed Danny's powers completely so that he wasn't able to use them at all, _this _one however was one that Danny created himself that sealed _half _of his powers. It would only last for a few hours, but it made things easier for him.

The past few days had been hell for him, he wasn't getting much sleep, which gave him a very exhausted appearance. Danny closed his eyes and pressed the device up to his abdomen. The effect was immediate, but very unpleasant. It was quite a relief though; his powers weren't overflowing out of him, so the amount of stress on his body was reduced quite a bit. "I can't keep doing this. I need to control my powers somehow." He was running out of options though, he practiced each day in hopes of wearing himself out to the point that his powers wouldn't bug him, but nothing was working.

Sam, Tucker and Valerie knew that something was wrong. They kept asking him if he felt alright and almost every day he came up with excuses not to hang out with them. His parents might know something about what was happening, but of course he couldn't bring it up with them considering that they didn't know he was half ghost.

Danny's phone rang, he considered not picking it up since he wasn't feeling like talking, but he did anyway. On the caller ID, he noticed that it was Sam. "Hey, Sam. What's up?"

"Hey, Danny!" She replied, and Danny could hear by the way she was talking that she had a smile on her face. "Tucker, Valerie and I plan on going to the movies tonight and we want you to go! And if you say no because of homework or something, I know you are lying and I will literally drag you out of your house!"

Danny chuckled, "I'm free tonight, so, sure I can go with you guys."

"Great! Meet us at the theatres at eight o'clock, okay?"

"Yep, see you then!"

Danny hung up the phone, sighing deeply. Lately he had a gut feeling that something wasn't right. He didn't know if that was his human self or his ghost self that felt odd. He shook off the feeling. It was probably nothing.

It was only a few days later that Danny's family was attacked and killed and Danny was kidnapped.

_

* * *

_

Danny's eyes cracked open a bit, everything was blurred and he couldn't make out anything that was going on around him. Every movement seemed to give him a headache. Was he drugged? There were people around him, _that_ he could tell, but he couldn't make out the faces or even count how many there were.

But the next thing he knew, a large claw with three sharp points was lowered toward him. Danny didn't know what was happening until the three points drove into the center of his stomach. The claw began to glow a bright green and the sound of a machine humming echoed in Danny's ears.

He released an ear splitting scream as the energy in his body seemed to be sucked out by this strange machine. Or rather, it wasn't his energy that was being taken…but he felt weaker each second. What the hell was this thing? Instinctively, Danny brought his arms up and wrapped his fingers around the claw, trying to yank it out.

Blood pooled around the area that the sharp ends were pierced as Danny pulled on it, which only caused him more pain. Even though he was drugged and confused, Danny knew that this thing wasn't good. "S-stop it!" He barked, his words slurred and cracked, "get out!"

Hands came from all sides and pinned him down, bringing his hands off of the claw. "I thought you had him drugged!" A voice spoke up.

"Give him another one!" Another one said.

"Get away!" Danny yelled, gritting his teeth with both fury and pain. Unknown to Danny, he was in his Phantom form, and as time went on, his black and white features began to fade away.

"STOP!" Danny howled, his eyes exploding with green energy. The claw took out what appeared to be all of the ghost energy in his body. With the bit of strength that Danny had left, he yanked his arms from their grasp and began to repeatedly strike the claw. Despite the fact that it ripped open his skin more, he continued to attack it.

"Take it out, hurry! If he continues this he'll die!" A voice commanded.

The claw was taken out of Danny's abdomen and the humming machine stopped making noise.

"Did you get all of it?"

"Yessir!"

The Phantom form was completely gone, and now the only one there was a teenage boy in jeans and a t-shirt, soaked in blood. And inside the strange machine was a massive amount of ectoplasm.

"Y-you took it!" Danny growled, continuing to kick and punch anyone that came near him. "Give it back!" His eyes rolled all over the place, he could hardly sit up straight. "Give…give my ghost back!" _They took it! They took my ghost powers! Who are they! Why did they do that!_ _What is happening! _

Danny's eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed.

* * *

It was a huge maze of memories; left – right – forward – back…things were so confusing. What was happening? He reached forward with a half numb, weak as jello arm. He didn't know what he was reaching for, but he wanted to grab something, anything and cling to it tightly. Slowly, the images began to vanish. "Come back." He whispered. The maze disintegrated from existence. What was there before? Why did he want to keep them? It was all gone, everything and everyone…gone…

A teen boy slowly opened his sky blue eyes, the light that previously shown brightly from those eyes was long gone; they seemed cold and dead. The first thing he noticed was the large container he was trapped in. There was enough room to move, but not a whole lot. He was on his back; a strange mask connected to a long tube was on his mouth. He was too weak and somewhat nauseous to move, he just lay there, noticing that he was naked other than a pair of shorts.

The next thing he noticed was the man standing beside the container looking at him. The man was probably in his mid forties, dark brown hair and a strange silver and black outfit.

The teen couldn't quite understand it, but the moment he saw the man, it was like an immediate attachment. Like a baby seeing it's mother, there was an immediate feeling of loyalty.

* * *

_-Present Time-_

Sam and Valerie replaced the bandages along Danny's body, he was currently unconscious because of the medicine they gave him. Sam began to unwrap the bandages that wrapped around his entire mid-second, there weren't any injuries on his stomach but along his back there were so that wrapping went all the way around, and she noticed the odd scar on his stomach, there were three scars in a triangle. "Val, look at this."

Valerie narrowed her eyes, "what _is _that?"

"I have no idea. It looks like an old wound though. I wonder what could've done that."

"Yeah, seriously. I wonder if he even remembers how he got it though. I mean, he doesn't remember much, does he?"

Sam nodded, "that's true. I just find that odd."

"I don't remember." Danny said.

Both Sam and Valerie jumped with surprise. "You're awake!" Sam asked, rushing up to his face with a small flashlight, she waved the light in front of his eyes to make sure his eyes reacted to the light. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not long." Cringing, Danny brought his hand up and traced his fingers along his scar, "I've been wondering for a while. How I got this scar I mean…" His eyes widened a bit, "the letter! Do you have it?"

"What letter?" Sam asked.

Before Danny said anything else, Valerie pulled a white envelope out from her coat, "this one?" Xavier had given Danny a letter from Danny's master and when Danny and Xavier had started fighting the letter was dropped, but Valerie managed to pick it up before the explosion.

Danny nodded, sighing with relief. "Can you read it?"

Valerie seemed surprised by the question; she figured that Danny wouldn't want anyone to see it except for him. But she _was _curious what it said. She opened it and was expecting a full-length letter, but instead it only said: "Take care, kid." She lowered the letter and looked at Danny.

A wide smile spread across his face and he let out a barking laugh.

He no longer felt regret. Danny had been mostly held back by the fact that he was betraying his master, but now…he knew that his master wasn't mad. Just from that short letter, Danny knew that his master was happy for him. He wasn't quite sure how he knew this…but he had known his master long enough to be able to 'read between the lines'.

_I have to become stronger. Because soon, I will have to face you, no, I will have to face all of Zanar and defeat you. I know that you've told me before that you expect me to defeat you in the future…did you know that something like this would happen? _Danny smiled. _I guess that doesn't matter. But I will win! _"I will win!" Danny announced with a grin.

* * *

Danielle sat in the kitchen with a bowl of cereal in front of her, she mostly just twirled her spoon around in the food. The moment Sam walked into the kitchen, she jumped up to her feet, "is he okay?"

"He'll be fine. He needs to rest though."

Danielle nodded, happy that her cousin would be alright.

"You should also be resting." Sam commented, coming closer and scanning Danielle with her eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"100 percent!" She smiled. "Seriously, I'm feeling great! Don't worry about me, just worry about my cousin, okay?"

Sam chuckled, "don't worry, I'll make sure he gets better."

Danielle was told the basics of everything that had happened since Danny arrived because she, just like everyone else, had believed that he was dead. For now, Danielle didn't care much about the details, she was just happy that her only family member was alive. "Can I…see him yet? I'll be careful about what I say, I promise! I know he doesn't remember me, but maybe we can still…become friends, you know?"

Sam nodded, "yeah you can see him. He's awake, even though I keep telling him to go to sleep! You are all so much alike, the Fentons are all so stubborn!" Sam chuckled.

Danielle smiled as Sam referred to her as one of the Fentons, even though Danny's parents never met Danielle, she liked to think of them as parents considering the fact that she was Danny's clone. Danielle started to leave the kitchen when Sam stopped her.

"Hey, take this with you. He wanted to see these." Sam handed Danielle a large photo album.

Danielle nodded and took the album then she headed down to the lab. Danny was lying on the table, which was cushioned with a mattress so that it was more like a bed. He had bandages all over his body and even the parts that weren't covered were a bit burnt.

Danny turned his head to look at her; his eyes widened a bit, seeing the resemblance between them immediately. "It's you, you're the girl that came out of that portal right?" He remembered quite vividly when she came flying out of the opening in the lab and following her was a strange creature, which then retreated when facing Danny.

Danielle nodded, "I'm surprised you recognized me, I was in my phantom form then."

"Valerie told me back then that you were my clone," he laughed, "it's still hard to believe but you…look a lot like me. I guess at this point I'm not questioning any of the weird stuff that happens because so many things have happened."

Danielle grabbed a chair nearby and brought it next to him then she sat down. "So… I'm glad that you're alright." She looked down at the floor, she wasn't expecting this to be so awkward but now she realized that both of them felt somewhat uncomfortable. "So since I guess this is our first real meeting, sort of…I'm Danielle." She smiled sweetly, holding out her hand.

Danny returned the smile, "I'm Danny." They shook hands gently. "I'm sorry, I know that you remember me but I-"

"Don't worry about it, I know." Danielle continued to warmly smile, "I know you don't remember. But still, you don't have to think of me as your clone."

"Okay then," Danny thought, "how about a cousin then?"

Danielle raised her eyebrows and grinned, "Yeah! Cousins!" This _was_ the same Danny as back then, Danielle thought to herself. Danielle was just about to tell him that they used to refer to each other as cousins, and the fact that he brought up the idea just now reassured her. "Well, I just wanted to…come and say hi. You should get some rest." Danielle held up the photo album to Danny, "Sam said you wanted to look at this."

Danny accepted the album.

"See ya, Cous'!" Danielle got up from her chair and left with a bit of a skip.

Danny stared at the cover of the album for quite a while with his heart racing. The album was a blue colour and engraved on the front in gold lettering was "Friends". Eagerly but slowly, he opened the album.

* * *

_-Flashback-_

Jazz was down in the lab, and not surprisingly, she was reading a book. However, it wasn't just any book, she had been doing as much research as possible on ghosts and ghost abilities. She was worried about Danny and his powers lately. She wanted so badly to talk to someone about it and get their feedback, but there was really nobody that she could discuss it with. Danny didn't want Sam, Tucker or Valerie to get involved, so she couldn't talk to them.

"Ugh, if Danny weren't so stubborn!" She closed her book with a sigh.

Narrowing her eyes, Jazz stood still and listened. This was strange…everything was very quiet for some reason, and it was making her nervous. Both of her parents were home, so things _shouldn't _be quiet at all! "Mom? Dad?" Jazz called out. She walked up the stairs to their living room, "guys? Are you here?"

She walked past the couches and the tv toward the kitchen when she suddenly felt something press up against the back of her head. She froze in place, "who are you?" When she got no reply, she spun around and brought her arm up, hitting the gun with her forearm to point it in another direction.

"Impressive." The man's voice said, "I wasn't expecting any resistance from you."

"Don't judge a book by its cover!" Jazz attempted to kick but was much too slow. The man easily jumped back far enough to avoid being kicked and before Jazz knew it, she was slammed against the wall with the gun pressed to her head and the man's free hand clasped her throat. "What do you want?" Jazz demanded to know.

"I'm here for Danny Phantom."

Jazz eyes widened, "what do you want from Danny!"

The man's grip on her throat tightened to the point that she couldn't breathe. "Even I don't know that answer, I'm just here on orders."

"Danny will defeat you!" Jazz smirked, "my little bro' is strong! He won't lose to someone like you!" Tears began to spill from her eyes, she knew that this man planned on killing her, she could tell from the look in his eyes. She didn't want to die. But begging for her life would make her a coward, and she knew that as a member of the Fenton family, she would always stand strong no matter what; that's how her parents raised her. "He'll defeat you! You can count on it!" She smiled with confidence even as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"You're so noisy." The man pulled the trigger on his gun. Jazz's limp body fell to the ground, blood splashed across the wall and pooled around her. _You better not lose, Danny. Not to someone like this. You have to win, okay? Don't give up._ Jazz slipped away, allowing death to take her.

A/N: As promised, here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews please! Also, Flames are welcomed!


	9. Guys in White

Shattered Tears

Chapter 9: Guys in White

Sam was sitting in the living room with Danielle when Danny came walking up the stairs from the basement. "Danny! What are you doing! You need to lie down! …Danny?" She stood up and walked up to him.

He wasn't looking at her, he was staring directly down at the carpet beneath his feet. In his right hand was the photo album that he had just looked through. "I…I need your help…"

Sam put her hand on his shoulder, "what is it?"

Danny finally looked up, eyes swimming with tears, "I want them back! I want my memories back! I want everything back!" He had seen so much just from those pictures, and what hit him the most was seeing the smiles on all of their faces, seeing himself enjoying time with his friends. He wanted to regain all of that, he wanted so badly to feel that happy again, to relive those years that he had no memory of. "I want to remember all of this!" He hugged the photo album to his chest, "All of those times that I smiled and laughed back then, I want to feel that! Please!"

Sam wrapped her arms around Danny, holding him tightly, "We will, don't worry." She whispered into his ear. "Tucker is still working on finding a lead, once we have that-"

"I know where we can get that lead! Vlad Masters! He knew something!" Danny narrowed his eyes with anger as he remembered his encounter with that man. "Let me go see him."

"No way!" Sam barked, releasing Danny from their hug and stepping back to look at his face, "there's no way you can go back there! Especially in the state you are in right now!"

"But he knows something! I have to!" That determined look. Sam recognized it all too well, he wouldn't back down when he had his mind set.

"If you do go, you have to take all of us with you!"

* * *

Vlad sat in his enormous living room located near the entrance, he was currently in his human form sitting on his couch and he held a cup of tea that he sipped on silently. "Ah yes, my guests have arrived." He remained sitting as the front door to his mansion was blown completely off its hinges. He sighed, "now I'll have to get that door replaced." Vlad placed his tea down on the coffee table in front of him and stood up to face the group of teens.

In the front was Sam and Valerie, both of them carrying large guns that required a strap around their shoulders as well as the use of both hands to hold. Sam's gun had steam coming from the barrel, she had been the one to blow down the door.

Behind the two of them was Danny, covered in bandages and he had his arm over Danielle's shoulders for support. Tucker was not seen with them, he was currently in the Fenton RV parked outside and was monitoring the area with his always-helpful technology.

"Always a pleasure to have you stop by." Vlad smiled, "However, I wasn't expecting Danielle to show up! My dear, you've grown so much!"

"Shut it, Plasmius!" Danielle growled, "I'm only here for Danny!" Danielle's hatred toward the man who had created her was radiating off of her. Danielle remained in her Phantom form in case Vlad tried to do anything.

"I see, well, please, sit down." Vlad motioned toward the seats across from him.

None of them moved. Sam and Valerie held their guns up with their finger on the trigger.

"Oh please, I won't bite! I have no reason to fight you, so you can put those weapons away. They're not much of a threat anyway."

_"You guys can do what he says, there's no activity going on at all. I think you should try and talk to him, see if you can get any information. I'll let you know if anything funny happens." _

All of the teens had a small headphone in their ear which Tucker was able to speak into from the Fenton RV. On his several computer screens, he could see heat signatures and was able to monitor any movement and of course he was able to pick up any ectoenergy around them.

Sam and Valerie took their fingers off the triggers of their guns, but didn't lower them. All four of them walked over to the couches, eyeing Vlad with caution. Slowly, they settled down into the fancy seats. Danielle and Danny sat on the small couch, while Sam and Valerie both sat in individual chairs. All of them stayed very close to each other and very far away from Vlad.

"Very good. How about some drinks?"

"No thanks." Danny barked, glaring at his enemy, "we're fine."

"My, my, so fierce."

"A few days ago when we met, you kept saying things! You knew about Zanar and seemed to know about my memory loss!"

"Did I really?" Vlad casually asked.

"Quit messing around! Tell me what you know!"

Vlad sat down in his own chair, placing his elbow on the armrest and leaning into his hand. "Very well, I'll tell you what I know, but in exchange, I have a few questions for you about your little assassination group."

Danny's eyes widened. It was true that he was no longer part of Zanar, but to give out information about them seemed…but, it was to get information about his memory loss! "Fine. I'll tell you what you want to know depending on how well your information is."

Vlad laughed, "Very well, Daniel. What do you want to know?"

"Who took my memories!" Danny yelled without a moment of thought.

"So straight forward." Vlad grinned, "I don't have the exact answer to that, however, I know who took your ghost powers so my guess is that the same people also took your memories. Five years ago, your family was killed and you were taken by the ghost organization that I know all of you are familiar with, the Guys in White. They are the ones who took your powers from you using a new invention." Vlad pointed Danny's stomach, "that's where your scar came from. That particular device reaches inside the person and drains them of all ectoplasm."

"And how the hell do you know this!" Sam barked.

"I'm the one who created that machine, Samantha. I did give it to the Guys in White, but I didn't realize that they would use it on him. That was a very risky thing to do. However, it appears that they made a mistake. While you and I fought several days ago, you were affected by the Specter Deflector just as I was, which proves that you still have some ectoenergy left in your body. So I can assume that the machine failed to take all of your energy.

"The machine I created can also be reprogrammed to take other things, in this case, I think that they reprogrammed it to take your memories as well. According to my information, the Guys in White then gave you to Zanar; Alexander, or rather, Z-1 seemed to have a particular interest in you."

Sam stood up, "are you trying to tell me that the Guys in White are behind all of this! The men that I've worked years for are the ones that took everything away from Danny! How do we know that you're telling the truth!"

Vlad shrugged, "it's your choice to believe me or not. I have many connections to companies and organizations, both government and criminal. That is where I am able to receive my information."

Danny spoke up, "why was Zanar trying to kill you?"

"I was hoping you knew the answer to that, Daniel. You're the one that came into my home and tried to kill me."

"I never know the reason for killing someone! I just followed orders!" Danny looked down at the floor, "a deal's a deal. What do you want to know about Zanar?"

"I want to know the names of the 10 ranking Zanar members, as well as their specialties."

Danny grit his teeth. _That's classified information! I can't believe I'm giving them to this bastard! _Danny went though the first seven, giving all of the information Vlad was asking for, then "Z-3…nameless in Zanar, specialty: Firearms, daggers, hand-to-hand combat, and bombs. Z-2, Charles, last name unknown. Because he ranks higher than I do, I never learned in detail what his specialties were, however, I know for a fact that he specialized in all the same things I did and more. And Z-1, Alexander, last name unknown, specialties unknown. That's all the information I have on them."

Vlad nodded, "Now, are there any other questions you kids have for me?"

Sam tightened her grip on her weapon dangerously, "Was it the Guys in White that killed Danny's family? And did you_know_ that they were going to be killed!"

"Ah, Samantha, you are always so full of life. The Guys in White were involved, however, I don't think that they were the ones to kill the Fentons."

Danny stood up, shaking a bit due to his not fully healed wounds. "Answer her question! Did you know that my family was going to be killed!"

Vlad smirked, "yes, I did."

Danny bared his teeth like an animal, his eyes flashed bright green for a moment before returning to normal.

At this information, all of the teens stood up, Sam and Valerie both aiming their guns.

"Why didn't you help them!" Valerie demanded, "you may not have liked them all that much, but I didn't think you were so low that you wouldn't save them! They were your friends!" Valerie snarled, "can I shoot him?"

Danny lunged at Vlad before any of them could act, he reeled his arm back and shot his fist forward to land a punch. Danny was only a foot away from Vlad when he delivered the attack. Vlad, without any effort, raised his hand up and caught Danny's punch, closing his fingers around his fist to prevent him from pulling back. With his free hand, Vlad threw his own hand forward and drove his fist into Danny's stomach.

Danny's mouth gaped open as he choked for breath. Vlad, while still sitting in his chair, kicked Danny's legs from beneath him, causing Danny to fall to the ground, clutching his stomach. Then, Vlad stood up, towering over Danny and looking down at him, "I understand _their_ reaction to this news, but you? You have no memories of your family, so why do you feel so strongly about their deaths?

"Get away from him!" Sam screamed, threatening to fire her gun.

Danny coughed sharply, "I may not have memories of them, but I can still love my family! And I _will _get my memories back! I _will _get my powers back! And when I do, you can expect me to show up at your door and I will kick the crap out of you!"

"Oh? Why not take me down now? Are you only strong enough to face me with your powers?"

Danny smirked, "of course not. But right now, you're not my top priority. You're next on my list."

"I look forward to it." Vlad stepped away from Danny, allowing him to shakily stand up.

Sam immediately ran toward Danny, allowing him to wrap his arm around her shoulders for support. Danny spoke to everyone, "we're done here. Let's go."

The teens exited the mansion and walked toward the Fenton RV. Tucker opened the side door for them to file in, "are you all okay?"

"We're fine. Let's go home."

Danny keeled over and coughed in pain. Small specs of saliva and blood flew from his mouth onto the floor of the RV. "Damn."

Sam walked over, "this is why we shouldn't go to Vlad's ever! We usually don't leave in the same condition we arrived in. Here, let me see." She pulled Danny's shirt up, seeing the beginning of a bruise form just below his rib cage. "There's no serious damage, you're lucky, with that force he could've easily snapped your ribs." Sam stared at the scar of three large spots in a triangle. "So, this is how they got your powers, and possibly your memories?" Sam stepped away from Danny, "and…the Guys in White are the ones behind it?" She clenched her fists, "those bastards. They won't get away with this."

* * *

Sam lay in her bed (although it was technically Danny's bed), staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about Danny and all that had happened with Vlad that night. It was all so much to take in.

She rolled to her side, closing her eyes in hope to get some sleep.

Unknown to Sam, a figure slipped through the door, not making a sound whatsoever. Danny stood by the entrance for several minutes, staring at the form of Sam beneath the blankets. He didn't want to wake her.

Again without making a sound, Danny walked up to the side of Sam, she was facing away from him with her eyes closed so she couldn't see him. Thinking she was asleep, Danny gently brushed her cheek with his hand and lightly touched her beautiful hair.

Sam nearly had a heart attack when she felt a hand on her face suddenly, but she quickly figured out who it was and remained still. His hand fell down to her neck, making her hairs stand on end. Slowly, she reached her hand back and put it over his hand.

Danny gasped, "s-sorry." He pulled his hand away from her with embarrassment, "I…didn't know that you were…awake…" He was about to get up and leave when Sam grabbed onto his hand.

"Wait." She quietly requested.

Danny remained still at her request, letting her hold onto his hand.

"Please don't leave."

"…okay." Danny sat on the edge of her bed, "I didn't mean to startle you or anything. I…" _What _was _I doing? What made me come in here?_

"You know, this is your room." Sam quietly spoke.

Danny looked around at the walls, seeing several posters that he didn't recognize. Several of them involved space. He also saw some CDs stacked on a small table and a computer in the corner. He thought of his room back at Zanar Headquarters, where it was just a simple bed with a blanket and pillow, then a small drawer to carry clothes and his weapons. That was it.

"It's a nice room."

After several hours, Sam opened her eyes, not remembering when she fell asleep. She looked over and saw Danny lying on the edge of the bed top of the blankets, still wearing his clothes and shoes from that day. He had fallen asleep already. Sam smiled and closed her eyes again.

* * *

The next morning, Danny woke up on top of his bed. He looked over and expected to see Sam, but she was gone. He looked at the clock, it showed that it was five in the morning. Was she up already? Danny stood up and left the room, walking downstairs. He expected her to be in the kitchen eating, but instead, he found a note on the table.

His eyes widened, "goddamn it!" He growled. "Tucker! Valerie!" He called from the kitchen. In less than ten seconds, he heard the two of them running down the stairs, both in their pajamas.

"What happened!" Valerie asked.

Danny held up the note.

Valerie quickly scanned the note "Oh my god. She _didn't_!"

_Hey you guys, I know you'll be mad when you read this and I apologize. I am going to see the Guys in White. I'm going to check some things out and see if I find anything else relating to Danny's memory loss. I still work for them, so I'll be able to get in. I went alone because I'm hoping they won't suspect that we know the truth. I didn't tell you because you wouldn't have let me leave. I'll be back tonight. Love, Sam._

Tucker ran toward the basement for a moment, "she took the Specter Speeder."

Valerie put her hand up to her forehead, "what if they find out that she knows! What do we do? We don't have a way of getting there except the RV, but that will take us forever!" Valerie quickly picked up the phone and dialed Sam's cell phone number.

While they waited for Sam to pick up, Danny quickly left the room and jogged to the guest room. He grit his teeth in pain, but continued moving. He opened the door, Danielle sat up quickly in the bed. "Danny? What's wrong?"

"Hey, cous', listen, I need a huge favor."

Down in the kitchen, Valerie put the phone on speaker so that both Tucker and her could talk to Sam. Finally, Sam picked up her phone. "Hello?"

"Damn it, Sam! I'm going to kick your ass when you get back here!" Valerie snapped.

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you guys. It'll be okay! I doubt they'll suspect anything! I'll just go in, check it out and then leave, no big deal. I'll be there in about ten minutes, so I can't talk for long."

"What weapons did you bring?" Tucker asked.

"Just the usual, I don't want them to get suspicious."

"You're so reckless," Valerie groaned, "why do you and Danny always do this!"

Tucker looked behind them, "where _is _Danny?"

Valerie looked behind, "oh my god, are you kidding me!" She left the kitchen and ran upstairs toward the guest room that Danielle was staying in. However, neither of them could be found in there.

* * *

"Are you alright? I don't want you to hurt yourself."

Danielle smiled, "I'm totally fine! I promise!"

Danny held onto her hand as she flew through the air. His heart fluttered with joy at being in the air. A wide smile spread across his face at the familiar yet foreign feeling. "This is…incredible!"

Danielle laughed. "It won't be too long before we're there. Is Sam going to be alright?"

"I don't know. I hope so. But," Danny narrowed his eyes, "I won't forgive those bastards for what they did to me. And if they do anything to Sam…" he snarled fiercely.

* * *

Sam arrived at the GIW Headquarters. She rarely ever came here. She did jobs for them once in a while, but they usually just sent her a letter request for each job.

It was a very large, square building that mostly looked like an office building from the outside. Surrounding it was a large gate, the gate entrance was opened for her after she revealed who she was. Sam left the Specter Speeder outside of the gate and walked in.

A large man wearing a white suit (of course) asked her to remove any weapons. She figured it would go like this. Around her waist she had a belt which carried the majority of her weapons, she unhooked the belt from her waist and handed it to the man. "I need to speak with your boss." She held up the letter she had been sent from the GIW boss, requesting that she destroy Z-3, "about a job."

Sam was brought to one of the top floors of the building and lead by the large man into the main office. The main office was much larger than any of the other rooms in the building. Toward the wall there was a large desk and sitting at that desk was the boss. All along the wall there were windows that looked over the area.

"Agent A." Sam acknowledged, "nice to see you again."

"Sam Manson, this is an unexpected visit from you." Agent A, the leader of the GIW, was about six feet tall, and he wore a _black _suit. Just like every other guy here, he wore sunglasses and was bald. Sam assumed that he wore a black suit so that he stood out from the other guys.

"My group has successfully captured Z-3, as you requested. He wasn't easy to catch, and right now we have him restrained at our place. I'm curious though," Sam walked forward and sat in a chair across from the boss, "why are you so interested in having him? Other than his name, we don't know anything about him. He's human too, you guys deal with ghosts just like us, right?"

Agent A cross his arms and leaned back in his chair, "why are you so curious?"

Sam shrugged, "I'm just wondering. Before we hand him over to you guys, I just want to make sure that this is something we should do. My group doesn't _like _to capture _living _people. We were thinking about just letting him go. So, in other words, if you _really _want this guy, you should answer my questions."

_I know that I told the others that I would just casually walk in and check things out…but it won't be going that smoothly. I need to be straight forward. I need to get some information. I need to know what these guys are after. _

"How do I know for sure that you have captured Z-3?"

Sam smirked, "what can I do to prove it to you other than give you my word?"

"I have the feeling that you're not telling me the truth, Sam." Agent A stood up from his seat, "If you've really captured Z-3, then you should've immediately recognized him as your old friend."

Sam's hand gripped the armrest of her seat.

"Are you telling me that you've captured your old friend and currently have him at your home? Danny Phantom, Amity Park's hero no longer exists, but I'm sure that you would've figured that out, am I right?"

Sam jumped up from her chair, reaching into her sleeve and pulled out a switchblade. She launched herself toward Agent A, kicking him in the knee with her large combat boot. A bone snapping echoed in her ears, and the boss feel to his knees with a grunt of pain. Sam came behind the man and pressed her knee to the small of his back, pushing against him until he was flat on the ground with Sam pinning him down. She held the knife up to his face threateningly. "What the hell did you _do _to him! You _are _the ones who took everything away from him! Where are you keeping his powers and his memories! You stole them! And I'll get them back for him!"

"As I thought, you can't be trusted after all."

Sam's eyes widened. She heard a large bang just before she was thrown off of Agent A and lay on the ground. Warm blood began to pool around her. Her eyes wouldn't focus; everything was spinning. _I…was shot? _She pressed her hand to her side, letting out a cry as she put pressure onto the wound. "You bastard." With one hand against her wound, Sam used her other hand to push herself up onto her knees and staggered into a stand. "Don't take me lightly!"

In the room was about ten Guys in White, each holding a gun toward her. She had no chance of getting to the exit. The men all lined up near the exit to keep her from leaving, behind her was the windows. Agent A was standing, also holding a gun. "You're completely outnumbered."

Sam grit her teeth. "All of you against me? Ha! You still need thirty more before you stand a chance!" Sam brought her hand off of her wound, and both hands reached down into her boots, she pulled out two more knives. _Damn, I'm really losing blood. I won't last long here. _Rather than charging forward toward the men, Sam ran backwards toward the windows on the wall. She jumped through the windows, making the glass shatter and fly in all directions.

Two of the Guys in White quickly ran to the window and looked down. They were ten stories up, she wouldn't survive the fall. But to their surprise, they didn't see a body on the ground. "She's gone!" One of them barked. They then looked up, and again, they didn't see her.

Agent A cursed loudly. "Search the entire building! Find her! Now!"

Sam heaved in and out, "wow that was close." She looked around her, there was nobody in this room, which was good for now, but sooner or later, they would check here, she had to keep moving. Sam had jumped out of the window and fallen three stories before she grabbed onto one of the windows and quickly opened it and jumped through. Thankfully the window was unlocked, otherwise she would've had to break it and give away where she was.

Years of training were on her side, but she _was _up against an entire building of professionals. "This'll be interesting." Sam grabbed one of the curtains in the room and tore it up to create a bandage. "Damn," she looked at her side where the bullet had hit her. Before she could wrap it up…she had to get the bullet out.

She searched the room for supplies and was able to find a pair of scissors. She poured some alcohol on the scissors before digging it painfully into her wound. She bit her lip to prevent from screaming, tears poured from her eyes, but she managed to pull the bullet out. It would suck if the bullet caused an infection, so she had to take it out, even if it was very unpleasant. Sam wrapped the cloth around the wound and tied it tight.

"Alright." _First I should try to find some better weapons. I'll go from there. _Sam cautiously walked out of the room and started searching. _I won't forgive you for hurting Danny! With tears in his eyes he begged me to help him get his memories back! I won't let him down!_

A/N: Sorry that this chapter was a bit rushed, sometimes I'm a bit impatient when I want to get toward the action! XD


	10. Level Four

Shattered Tears

Chapter 10: Level Four

"Perfect!" Sam opened the door all the way and stepped inside, closing the door behind her very quietly. "This should be good enough." Before her was what appeared to be the storage room for weapons. Sam began to grab anything and everything that she saw. In both of her hands she held guns, while she also strapped numerous firearms to her waist. She had weapons strapped to her legs and attached to the bullet-proof vest she swung across her chest.

Sam wouldn't be able to move as fast considering the fact that she had at least thirty extra pounds on her body due to the vest, weapons and ammo. With that, Sam exited the room and continued her search around the building.

Sam wasn't a huge fan of guns in general, she didn't mind ecto-guns because when she hit ghosts they couldn't be killed with those weapons…but _real _guns used on people could kill them if struck in the right spot. In her mind, Sam promised herself to aim low and hopefully avoid the head and torso completely. Even though these men were her enemies at the moment, she didn't want to kill any of them.

_"All agents report to your posts. Do not let anyone leave any of the exits. There is an intruder inside of the building. I repeat. All agents report to your posts."_

Sam looked up at the speakers throughout the hallways; the voice of that person startled her at first. "Well, this just makes things more difficult." Her heart pounded inside of her chest and the pain from the bullet wound increased every time she moved. She knew that before too long, she could pass out from the pain or the blood loss. Even though she had wrapped the wound up as best she could, blood was still running from her side, trailing down her hip and leg.

Sam turned around the corner, nearly jumping back with surprise when she encountered a group of Guys in White. The men were quick to raise their weapons toward her. _There's ten of them. I should be fine._ She winced from the pain in her side, _on second though, this'll be a bit difficult. _"Out of my way!" She barked, raising up the guns she held in her hands, "or you won't be so lucky!"

"Drop your weapons! Or we'll shoot!"

Sam narrowed her eyes. She took a step backward and jumped to safety around the corner where the men wouldn't be able to shoot her. Before the men could get any closer, Sam stepped out the slightest bit and aimed her weapons toward them. The moment she came into view, the men began to fire. _Aim low. Aim low. _Sam returned fire.

The constant firing of bullets from both sides made her ears hurt. Blood splattered on the floor, Sam bit her lip and tears built up in her eyes. She hated this. She hated shooting at these guys. Even though she was aiming for areas that wouldn't kill, she hated the blood that was spilled because of her.

Most of the rounds that were fired at Sam hit the wall that she was hiding behind, but she wasn't fully protected, her arm stuck out to shoot her gun, and her leg was out a tad bit in order to stand firmly. One bullet fired from the Guys in White burrowed into her lower right leg. Sam cursed and stumbled back. With a loud battle cry and a burst of numbing energy, Sam fired the last of her bullets from her gun, taking down the last of the men.

The men all remained on the ground but were still breathing. Sam looked at the blood surrounding them and couldn't help but keel over and vomit. Saliva dripped from her lips while she faced the ground. The stench of throw up made her want to vomit again. "Damn it!" Sam stood up straight, wiping the spit from her face with the back of her hand.

She limped over to the ten men that she had just shot and began to rip off strips of their coats for bandages. She quickly grabbed the scissors from before and cleaned it off before using it to pull out the bullets from their bodies. "Sorry." She repeated over and over again as she dug out the bullets. Once she pulled those out she quickly wrapped up their wounds with the strips of cloth that she tore from their coats.

"Don't worry, you won't die." She wasn't sure how many were conscious and could hear her, "I really am sorry! But I need to help a friend right now!"

Sam sat on the ground next to the men and observed her leg where she had been shot. It had hit her on the side of her calf. Right now she didn't feel the pain of it, but blood was leaking from the wound and she had to treat it. Once again, she cleaned off the scissors with alcohol and yanked the bullet out. _Now _she started to feel the pain. It was excruciatingly painful, causing Sam to breathe heavily and moan in agony.

Once she had wrapped up her wound, she decided to sit for a few minutes. Even though she wanted so badly to keep moving, she needed a moment to rest.

"Why did you help us?"

Sam gasped, not realizing anyone was awake. The man near her looked at her with pained eyes and she felt horrible inside. "Because, if I hadn't you guys might have died from blood loss."

"We're your enemies though, you shouldn't help your enemies, otherwise they'll just fight you again."

Sam chuckled, "you don't seem like you're in any condition to fight."

The man nodded, "that's true." He sighed.

"Looks like you're the only one conscious, you should probably call for some medical assistance just to make sure you're all okay."

The man seemed to ignore what she said, "the friend you mentioned, do you mean Phantom?"

Sam nodded, "yeah." She couldn't believe that she was having a conversation with her enemy, maybe all the blood loss was messing with her head. "I'm here to find out more about his powers and memories being taken."

"Everything you need to know about that is on the fourth floor, there's a main lab. That's where you need to go."

Sam narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "why would you tell me that? Isn't that what you are all trying to keep from me?"

"Only a few people here actually know anything about the Phantom Project. I only know the name and where it is. I owe you for saving our lives, I don't want to be in debt to you. So now, we're even. You better leave before more guys show up."

"Phantom Project? That's the name of it?"

The man nodded.

Sam stood up shakily, "thanks. My name's Sam, by the way."

"Jeremy."

"Thanks Jeremy." Sam walked away from the Guys in White.

Jeremy picked up his walkie-talkie once Sam was out of sight, "this is Agent 442 requesting a medical team at the third hallway of the seventh floor. We were taken down by the intruder."

A reply came through the walkie-talkie, "copy that Agent. Did you see where the intruder went?"

Jeremy answered, "No sir. When I came to, she was already gone."

"Very well. A medical team is on the way."

* * *

Sam was very careful not to run into anymore people. Whenever she heard footsteps, she quickly hid from whoever it was and waited for them to leave. She thought that she could take down anyone she encountered, but she was already weakened and in pain.

Sam knew that the elevator was a dumb idea, so she had to find the stairs and go down to the fourth floor using those. She expected there to be multiple people guarding the stairs, but there were none. _Maybe they're all at the exits to the building so they aren't bothering to watch the stairs. _Each step was slow and painful, for the most part she held the railing and hopped down on her good leg. "Alright. You can do this Sam." She grabbed two new guns from her belt, each fully loaded. She opened the door that lead from the stairs to the fourth floor.

Not to her surprise, there were two men standing guard at the door, both of them however had their backs to Sam. They heard the door open and started to turn around but Sam was too quick. She hit them both in the neck, causing them to fall to the ground unconscious. Sneak attacks such as these were easy; certain parts of the body could be hit accurately and knock the person out.

_Okay so, Jeremy said that there was a main lab on this floor. _Sam limped around the hallways of the fourth floor.

* * *

"Men, I want you all to be on high alert! The moment you see the intruder, shoot her! You understand?"

The men that were gathered around Agent B nodded. Agent B was second in command, Agent A being the boss of course. There were at least sixty men there at the entrance of level one.

"Alright then. All of you are dismissed."

A window smashed into a thousand pieces above their heads. All sixty of the men looked up to see what had caused the shattered window.

* * *

"Sir…"

Agent A picked up his walkie-talkie from his belt and held it up to his face, "Agent B? What is it?"

"Sir…we have a second intruder…" Agent B coughed.

"What! Who!"

"I don't know…it all happened so fast! The intruder took out all sixty of the men here on level one in just a few minutes!"

Agent A's eyes widened.

"Sir, do you think…"

"Yes, it's probably Phantom! Damn it. Gather as many men as you can and head to level four! That's where both Sam Manson and him will eventually go."

"Understood sir."

* * *

Sam pushed open the doors to the main lab, at least, she assumed it was the main lab because of how large it was. Her eyes widened at all the equipment in this lab, half of the things in there she had never seen before!

In the middle of the giant room, Sam found what she was looking for. There was a large machine that hummed loudly and the words "Phantom Project" were written on the side in green letters. "Found you!" Sam went up to the machine. Near the machine Sam found a file cabinet, she shuffled through the folders until she found the one she was looking for and began to scan through it.

* * *

A group of Guys in White were gathered together in the middle of the hallway, "Men, listen up! You five are going to head to level 4," the man standing at the front of the group barked, "and you five" he pointed to the ones he was referring to "are going to go to the entrance of level 5 and stay there. Now the rest of you are-" He didn't have time to finish his sentence, the man was thrown backward very suddenly, crashing to the floor and remaining motionless.

The entire group of men stiffened with shock and pulled out their guns. "Where did that come from!" One of them shouted.

The man nearest to the leader looked down at their fallen comrade, "he was shot in the head…with a practice round. He's not dead, he's just unconscious!"

"A practice round? Really?"

Another spoke up, "who the hell would use a practice round to take out our leader!"

And another, "it doesn't matter! Stay on alert! Where did that shot come from!"

All of them looked around. They were in a hallway, there was no place for someone to shoot from, at least to their knowledge.

After about ten seconds of complete silence, another of the group collapsed with a non-lethal bullet to the head.

"Everyone form a circle!" The group of Guys in White stood shoulder to shoulder in a circle, facing outward and waiting to see where the attacker was.

"This is ridiculous! Where the hell are you! Show yourself!"

All of the men were on edge, afraid of being the next target.

A laugh echoed through the entire hallway, although the laugh didn't sound menacing at all it still terrified the group of men; "you shouldn't underestimate a former assassin!" With that said, five more men fell to the floor without a sound.

There were only a few men left standing. One of them held up a small walkie-talkie, "this is Agent R, requesting backup on the 6th entrance of level one! I repeat –" The walkie-talkie burst into a thousand pieces in his hand. Agent R didn't think that it looked like it was shot; it almost looked like it self-destructed! But that was impossible!

"Are you guys really professionals? You aren't very good."

All of the men jumped with fear and spun around. Standing inside of the small circle they had formed was a teenage boy, in his hand he held a large gun at least a foot and a half in length, but he wasn't holding the gun up toward anybody. "Y-you're surrounded! Put your hands in the air!" Agent R demanded.

Danny smirked, "I'm the one that chose to get _in _the circle. I've already taken out seven of your guys. Don't worry though, they're fine, but I'm sure they'll wake up with a horrible headache."

"Drop your weapon!" Agent R snapped viciously.

"No thanks, you'll just shoot me anyway, I'm the one you're after, right?"

Agent R narrowed his eyes. "Are you…you're Z-3!" He took a step back, "you're just a kid!"

"Huh, for people that are trying to capture me, you really don't know much about me. I'm 19, for your information. And I'm not here to get captured anyway." Danny's eyes narrowed dangerously and in the blink of an eye he had the tip of his gun two inches away from Agent R, "I'm here for my friend, and I expect you to tell me where she is!"

Sweat dripped from Agent R's face. "Heh, that's just a practice round, you can't threaten me with that!" A loud shot rang in his ears. Aiming just to the left of Agent R's face, Danny had shot a round and the bullet created a steaming hole inside of the wall behind him. The gun was once again pointed directly at Agent R's face.

"It _was _a practice round before. This time, you won't be so lucky." Danny looked to his left and right where the remaining Guys in White had gathered around them with their weapons up. Danny knew that the men couldn't fire their weapons at him right now, if they shot him there was a chance that his finger would pull the trigger even if he was killed instantly and that would be the death of Agent R.

"How did you get here? How did you shoot Agent N and the others without being noticed?"

"Was Agent N your leader there?" Danny nodded toward the man on the floor. "You are all ghost hunters but you aren't able to tell when a ghost is right next to you? Ghosts have the ability to be invisible, you should know that."

Agent R growled, "but you had your powers taken away from you! There's no way you could've become invisible!"

"I didn't say that I as the one doing the invisibility."

Every man standing around Danny and Agent R let out a grunt of pain and fell to the ground. Danielle became visible, all twenty of her duplicates grinned happily at Agent R and waved before morphing back to the original. "I don't like guns," Danielle held up her fist, "but I'm not opposed to using fists!"

Danny was losing his patience with Agent R. He shoved his gun into Agent R's gaping mouth, "Are you going to tell me where Sam is or not? I could easily blow your head off right here! I've wasted too much time with you as it is!"

Agent R pulled his face away from the gun, "You disgusting ghost! You think that I'll help you! Go ahead and shoot me! You're an assassin, you'll kill me anyway, right!"

Danny grit his teeth and pulled his gun back, aimed it at Agent R's chest and fired the gun. "_Former_ assassin." Danny turned to Danielle, nodding to her and the two of them took off down the hallway.

Agent R fell to the ground and clutched his chest where the _practice _round had hit him. It hurt like hell, but he knew for a fact that he wouldn't die from it. _That one was a practice round? _He chuckled, _that sneaky bastard. Did he only have that one real bullet hit the wall to scare me?_ Agent R reached over to a nearby comrade and grabbed their walkie-talkie, "this is Agent R requesting a medical team at the 6th entrance of level one. There are no deaths to report but there are quite a few injured. Our leader Agent N is unconscious, so are the others."

A voice replied over the walkie-talkie, "Is the enemy there?"

"No, he's gone."

Danny and Danielle were out of sight of the man, continuing their search for Sam. "Damn it! Where is she!" Danny's face was cringing with worry, "Can you take us up to the top floor?"

"Sure thing!" Danielle grabbed a hold of Danny and jumped into the air, intangibly going through the numerous floors without any trouble at first. "How many floors are there?" Danielle asked.

"When we got here I counted ten stories. I assume that the boss is on the top level." Danny stopped speaking as they arrived at the seventh floor, with great force he quickly yanked Danielle down with his arm, making both of them fall downwards. Danielle became tangible and they crashed onto the floor. Above them on the ceiling was a gaping hole where a shot had just been fired.

Danielle was a bit dazed from the sudden action of Danny throwing her down and crashing into the floor, but Danny jumped up instantly.

"It's been quite a while, Phantom. Five years to be exact."

"Sorry, I don't really remember you." Danny narrowed his eyes at the man, "so you're the one in charge." He was able to tell instantly; the man had a high power about him, also he wore a black suit unlike the other men. Danny noticed that the man was favoring his left leg and smirked, "seems like Sam already got to you before I could. So, you'll be able to tell me where Sam is, won't you?"

Danielle stood up next to Danny, "this is the guy?"

Danny nodded, "seems like it. Sorry for throwing you by the way."

"It's okay, thanks for the save."

"So," Danny held up his gun, "you're going to tell me where Sam is."

"I do know where she is, my men are watching her as we speak. She is down on level four in the lab were we have your powers stored."

Danny's eyes widened. "Is Sam alright!"

"She's alive. She's been shot a few times, but that's about it. And she'll be dead before you can reach her. My men are there, ready to shoot if I say so."

Danny's eyes narrowed with fury, his eyes glowing brightly green "and I'm telling you right now…if you even _try _to kill her, I'll kill you before you can even beg for mercy!"

"Is that Danny talking or is that Z-3?" The man replied, not seeming to care about the threat on his life.

"Z-3 is gone. Right now, you're dealing with Danny!"

"Interesting." The man held up the gun that had blown a hole in the ceiling, it was quite small considering how much damage it caused.

Danielle quickly grabbed Danny and turned intangible, dropping through the floor before the man could fire the weapon. "Danny, we have to go to Sam! We'll deal with that guy later!"

Danny nodded. His heart pounded rapidly in his chest and only sped up the closer he got to the main lab on level four.

A/N: Sorry this came out a little later than I thought, I finally got around to posting the last chapter of my other story. So now I'm back to this one! I'll try my best to have the next chapter out later this week!


	11. Danny Phantom

Shattered Tears

Chapter 11: Danny Phantom

Sam furiously went through the papers she held over and over again, "where _is _it!" In her hands, she held all of the documents involving the Phantom Project. Most of it involved the procedure used on Danny. But she couldn't find the one part she was looking for.

She put the papers back into the folder and held it tightly in her hands "So, this is Danny's ectoenergy." She looked at the machine that stood taller than her and at least six feet wide. She grit her teeth, "those bastards." She put her hand on her head in thought. "Damn it!" She thrust her fist forward and punched the filing cabinet. The punch did more damage to her hand than it did to the filing cabinet. "We came all this way…"

_"I want them back! I want my memories back! I want everything back! I want to remember all of this! All of those times that I smiled and laughed back then, I want to feel that! Please!"_

She vividly remembered Danny's tears as he said those words. "We came all this way to get his memories back!" She threw the folder in her hands down to the floor, the folder opened as it fell and the papers went in all directions, slowly settling on the ground. "Damn it!" She stomped on the papers with a furious growl. She stopped in place when she heard the click of a gun loading.

"Step away from the machine with your hands in the air."

Sam looked left and right, there were men all around her. _How did I not see them before? _With her wounds as they were, she didn't want to make them any worse or get any more wounds. But…she couldn't just give up now! _Should I fight? If I surrender now, I'll be put in jail probably! If I fight, I could end up being killed. I promised the others that I would make it back safely…_ "Where's your leader? I need to talk to him again."

"Put your hands in the air! I won't say it again! Do it or we'll shoot!"

Sam cringed and slowly started to raise her hands up. "How many of you were involved in the Phantom Project! I need to ask a few questions!"

None of the men answered.

"Where are you keeping his memories! In the documents, it only mentions Danny's ectoenergy being removed! Where the hell are his memories! What did you do with them!"

"Ma'am! Stay still and be quiet until our boss gets here! Any movements and we'll shoot! Understand!"

"Are you going to answer me or not! The only reason I'm here is to figure this out! Now answer me! Or at least get me someone who knows something about this stupid thing!" Sam was getting impatient. "Are you just going to-"

Everyone in the room looked up. Sam's eyes grew wide, "Danny! What the hell are you doing here!"

The men in the room immediately fired their weapons at Danny, each bullet passed harmlessly through him.

Danielle smirked while she held Danny's hand, "you're going to need some ghost equipment to hurt a ghost!" She flew over Sam and released Danny's hand. He dropped to the ground in front of Sam, in each hand he held a combat knife. Sam let her hands fall to her sides and quickly grabbed the two guns she stored on her belt.

"Why did you come here! I told you I would come alone!"

Danny skillfully swung his blades left and right, each of the bullets that was shot toward them bounced off his knives with a _clang_. Sam stared at Danny as he flawlessly protected the two of them from being shot. "If I hadn't come, you could've been killed! Did you think you could come back home with two bullet wounds and I would let it go!" Danny turned his head a bit to look at her in the eyes for a brief moment before returning his attention to the men once more, "you told me before that you loved me! So why the hell did you leave and not tell me! If you were killed… if you were killed then you would be leaving me alone!"

Danny turned from defense to offense. He quickly threw the knives in his hands toward two of the men and instantly pulled out two more that were hidden in his clothes. He threw those knives as well then grabbed another two. Very quickly, the men all dropped to the ground with a blade imbedded in their gut.

The firing no longer continued. Danny turned toward Sam, "I'm sorry that I left for five years! I'm really sorry! I can't imagine how painful that was for you! So please don't do the same thing I did! Don't leave me alone!"

Sam bit her lip, "you idiot! I wouldn't even think of leaving! I won't die in a place like this!" She wrapped her arms around him, "I'm sorry for worrying you. I won't do it again."

"It seems that my men failed to take care of the intruders."

Danny and Sam turned to look at the man who walked into the lab. Danielle hovered above their heads, "Cous', it's the guy from earlier."

Danny nodded, "yeah, the boss."

The man wearing a black suit walked forward but stopped a fair distance away from the three of them. With him, a group of men flooded into the room. A few doctors also walked in cautiously and went straight toward the ones with knives stuck in them.

Danny spoke toward the doctors, "don't worry, I avoided hitting their organs, they'll be fine."

"Hm. You're a very interesting person." The boss, Agent A, said. "you could've killed all of them effortlessly, but you went out of your way to make sure they live."

Danny narrowed his eyes, "shouldn't you be glad that I didn't kill your men?"

"I didn't say that I wasn't grateful." The man chuckled, "I just said that it's interesting."

"You remind me of someone else I know. And I _really _don't like it." The way this man spoke to them, it reminded Danny of Vlad.

Sweat slowly trickled down Danny's face. His heart was pumping quickly in his chest, he was sure that everyone else could hear his heart beat. He turned to look at the machine.

"Your body seems to be reacting to the ectoenergy." Agent A stated matter-of-factly.

"This is…" Danny reached his hand out and touched the side of the machine, "…my ectoenergy?" The machine had a large glass window along the side so the green energy could be seen.

"Danny," Sam spoke up, "your memories aren't here. I went through the files, the Guys in White only took your powers." Sam looked down at the floor, "I'm so sorry…"

Danny's eyes widened, his forehead creased with disappointment, "then…where are they?"

Agent A replied, "that organization that you held such high respect for is the one responsible for taking your memories. Did you think they would be able to raise a pawn like you if you had your memories?"

"What do you mean!" Danny growled, "Zanar didn't take my memories!" He thought back to his master, "He would've told me that! He would've told me if they had my memories there!"

"With no memories or feelings to hold you back, Zanar was able to raise you to be their perfect assassin puppet. All we needed was your powers, we had no use for you after that and we had an agreement with Zanar. They wanted to keep you for themselves having seen your potential."

Danny took a step forward, "then who was the one that killed my whole family! Was it you or Zanar!"

Agent A took a moment to respond, "both. Some of my men were there as well as one of Zanar's members."

"Then let me ask you _this_…" Danny stood up tall and with a loud voice he barked "WHY did you kill my family! WHY did you kidnap me! WHY did you take my powers from me! What the hell did you gain from doing this!"

Agent A glared at Danny, "The only reason we did this was to protect the world from your ghost powers! By nature, ghosts are violent and will attack the living! You were both human and ghost, your ghost half naturally wanted to take over the human half. Your ghost powers increased as time went on and if we hadn't done anything, you would have been taken over and would only cause destruction."

"You bastard!" Sam yelled, "Danny was the one that protected everyone in Amity Park from those ghosts! He didn't do anything bad!"

"You're not listening to me, Sam!" Agent A replied, "His ghost powers would keep increasing, destroy Danny completely and would still increase to the point that nobody would be able to stop him! He wouldn't be able to control himself!"

"But Danny never had any problems controlling his powers!"

"We had been monitoring his ectoplasmic signature for quite a while, it was rapidly getting out of hand. You may not have noticed, but it was happening very quickly. We had to act fast before it became too powerful. My men's only goal was to take Danny and leave the family alone, but they refused to give up their son and fought against us, so naturally we had to take care of them!"

Danny's fist were clenched, his knuckles turned white from the strain, he grit his teeth and trembled all over. "What kind of screwed up place are you running! You had no right to take my family away from me, you had no right to take my powers and you had no right to hand me over to Zanar like I'm some toy to be passed around! They're MY powers! I can do whatever I want with them! You aren't the ones to decide if I can control them or not! If my powers are increasing, then I'll just have to become stronger and fight against it! I don't need bastards like you making these decisions! I'll take my powers back! And then I'll go beat the crap out of Zanar and take my memories back too! I'll take all of them back!"

Agent A grit his teeth, "If you were to try and take your ectoenergy back, it would kill you! It's been increasing these past five years inside of this machine! Your body won't be able to handle it! It'll destroy you!"

"Again with making these decisions!" In the blink of an eye, Danny was across the room and slammed Agent A against the wall. Danny gripped the edges of his coat collar, keeping his face only inches away from Agent A's face. The men surrounding them all turned and aimed their guns at Danny. "You are never to come after my friends, you understand! If you try to hurt them any more than you already have, I swear I will send you to the hospital in a coma!"

"It seems that you haven't lost your violent side, have you?"

"When it comes to my friends, I won't hold back!" Danny hissed. "I'll never forgive you, you bastard! If you didn't exist, my family would still be alive!" Reluctantly, in his mind, Danny was thinking of all the possible ways to kill this man. There were several parts of the body that he could stab with a knife that would be painful as well as lethal. He wanted to hear this man scream and beg for his life! Danny closed his eyes and turned his head away. He hated thinking like this! _I gave up that life! I don't want to kill anyone else! Revenge will solve nothing! _

"Now that you're no longer part of Zanar, we can't allow you to live. There's a reason that ex-assassin's aren't allowed to live! They're too violent and have no one to limit them! Even now, I can see it in your eyes, you _want _to kill me! How long do you think you can put up the good-guy act?"

"Shut UP!" Danny brought one of his fists back and drove a punch into the man's gut. Agent A grunted and coughed loudly, leaning forward from the pain in his stomach. "I gave up being an assassin because I realized that I had friends that cared about me! Your organization works with a group of killers! All you've done is ruin things for me! So no _duh _I want to kill you! Anyone in my position would want to kill you! The difference is that I have been _trained _to kill!" Danny released his hold on Agent A and walked back to stand by Sam and Danielle.

Danny reached into the sleeve of his shirt and pulled out a long dagger.

"I told you Phantom! If you try and take back your ectoenergy, you'll be killed!"

"You wanna bet!" Danny shouted. "It's my own powers! I can control them! And I _will_!" He turned to Danielle and Sam, whispering under his breath, "close your eyes and breathe into your clothes."

Tear gas exploded from all over the room. Everyone's eyes began to burn painfully and they choked and gagged while they breathed. Danny took a step toward the large machine and placed his hand on it "I don't know how well this will work…" he brought his hand with the dagger back, "…but here it goes!" He thrust the knife forward into the glass on the machine, his hand recoiled back from the collision, but he managed to create a small opening in the machine.

Like a magnet being pulled to a refrigerator, the ectoenergy immediately went toward Danny. The green liquid wormed its way out of the opening to the machine and shot straight toward him, never touching the ground. At first, the liquid would stick to his body, but before long, his skin began to absorb the energy like a sponge.

His heart began to race even more. He gasped for breath. The feeling in his body was strange, but he seemed to be perfectly fine while the energy continued to be drawn toward him.

Sam and Danielle walked over to Danny, they seemed both interested and concerned about what was happening. Things seemed to be going fine. "Danny," Sam softly spoke, "how're you doing?"

With a strained voice, Danny replied "its…getting…more difficult…" He looked at the machine, seeing that only half of the green liquid was gone so far. He knew that this wouldn't be easy. He could only hope that his body could handle the ectoenergy. Before long, Danny's legs lost their strength and he dropped to his hands and knees, inhaling and exhaling like he was suffocating.

Sam dropped to her knees next to Danny, "hang in there!"

Danielle stayed standing and turned to make sure that nobody was going to try and attack them. The tear gas had already vanished, but the effects on the men who had breathed it in and gotten it in their eyes remained in pain. "Stay strong Cous'!" She encouraged him.

He was quickly reaching his limit, there was only so much that his body could handle. Danny heaved and puked up some blood, the veins in his body were bulging visibly under his skin. He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around his stomach. "I can handle my powers!" Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, sweat soaked his shirt and his body began to glow a bright green colour. _I can do this! _The strain on his body was becoming too much. A drop of blood trickled down from his eye.

"Danny!" Sam placed her hand on his back.

"Don't worry," he whispered with a pained whine, "I'll be fine…" The way he spoke wasn't very reassuring.

Sam looked at the machine, the green ectoplasm continued to pour out of it, "how much more is there!"

Danny's head rolled back and he released an ear-splitting cry of agony. Danny rolled to his back and used his arms and legs to try and crawl away from the machine. The ectoenergy still followed him even as he tried to get away.

Sam wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly in place, "it's okay, Danny! You can do this! Hang in there!"

The veins in his body were visibly glowing green through his skin, his eyes paled and shined. Blood continued to run from his eyes and nose due to the strain on his body.

_It wasn't nearly this bad this first time he got his powers. _Sam thought to herself. _But like Agent A said, his powers have been increasing. Please, Danny, be alright! _

Danny trembled in place, moaning and crying out from the pain.

The last of the ectoenergy seeped out from the machine and was absorbed into Danny's skin. He collapsed on the floor, motionless.

Agent A walked toward them, Danielle dropped to a defensive stance and glared at the man, ready to attack him if she needed to.

"Danny?" Sam shook him a bit, "hey! Danny, answer me!"

"I warned you, it would be too much." Agent A commented.

"Shut up!" Sam snarled, "he's alive!" She pressed her ear to his chest, hearing his heartbeat. "He'll be fine!"

Danny breathed shakily, "I told you, you bastard…" Danny looked toward Agent A, "I can handle my own powers…"

Agent A grit his teeth and pulled out his gun, "and now what! Now you're a threat to us, your friends, and your entire city!"

"The only one that's dangerous here…is _you_!" Danny rolled to his stomach, spitting out a chunk of blood caught in his throat.

"Danny, don't move so much!"

Danielle looked at her cousin, "I'll take care of him, you should rest!"

"I'm fine. In fact, I feel great." Danny grinned. His eyes were bloodshot and unfocused, but he was telling the truth, despite the over bloating pain in his body, he felt physically more whole then he could ever remember.

Sam helped Danny stand up, he mostly leaned on her for support. She bit her lip from the pain in her side and her leg.

Danny let go of Sam and stood on his own. He didn't understand why, his brain had no idea what was going on, but his body seemed to feel comfortable with these powers. A ring of light appeared around his waist.

Sam and Danielle stared wide eyed at Danny. _How is he able to do this after only having them for less than a minute! Can he already control them? No, that's impossible! It took Danny months to be able to use his powers accurately!_ Sam's mouth gaped with absolute shock.

The ring split into two, one of the rings went straight up and the other went down. As the rings moved, his body transformed from Danny to Phantom. The familiar black and white outfit, the white hair and green eyes appeared before them.

Before Sam realized it, a tear ran down her face. She never thought she would see Danny like this again! It was like old times!

Danny Phantom launched himself forward, crashing into Agent A with full force, the two of them went flying across the room. Danny pulled his gloved hand back with green energy and punched Agent A. Danny grabbed onto the man's black coat and jumped into the air, flying several feet above the ground. He held him there for a moment, "I would've kicked your ass earlier but I wanted to wait until I got my powers back! That way, you'll be able to remember that it was Danny Phantom that defeated you! The one that you tried to destroy!"

Danny swung his foot around and kicked Agent A downward so that he fell faster and crashed into the floor.

All of the men that were able to see and breathe correctly began to shoot at Danny to try and help their boss, but all of the bullets had no effect. Danny flew down and stood next to the place that Agent A lay. "I'll tell you this once more! Don't you dare lay a hand on me or my friends ever again!" He pressed his foot down on the man's chest, pinning him there, "or there will be hell to pay!" He brought his foot underneath Agent A and kicked him up into the air several feet before punching him once again. He skid to a stop after flying several feet.

He walked toward the boss, "don't ever forget it!" Danny brought his foot down and slammed it into the man's rib cage. Danny heard two of the man's ribs break, but those would heal over time. He had been tempted to break the man's ribs to the point that it pierced his lungs and killed him, but he held himself back.

Danny turned and walked, still shakily, toward Sam and Danielle. "Come on, let's get out of here. That guy won't be getting up for a while."

Sam grinned widely and swung her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

Danny chuckled and hugged her back. "Danielle," he looked over toward his cousin, "do you think you could get us out of here." Danny switched back into his human self, "I don't know if I would be able to fly us back…"

Danielle smiled, "sure thing!"

The men in the room stood and stared at the three of them, not firing their weapons a them anymore. Their boss had been defeated. They had lost.

Danielle grabbed both Danny and Sam and turned intangible, then proceeded to fly out of the lab and out of the building. "Hey hey! Look at that!" She descended to the ground just outside of the gate surrounding the building.

The van with "Fenton" on the side of it was parked outside of the gate, Valerie and Tucker stood outside of the car and waited for them. "Looks like we were a bit late." Tucker sighed.

Valerie growled, "you guys just had to leave home without us! Jeez!" She laughed, "but it looks like you guys got out alive."

"Hey Danny, did you manage to…" Tucker started but trailed off when Danny shook his head.

"No, it turns out Vlad was wrong. The Guys in White didn't have my memories, but they did have my ghost powers!" Danny smiled, "so I was able to get one part of me back!"

"Yeah, but Zanar is the one that has your memories." Sam spoke up, "that'll be a bit harder to get!"

Danny nodded, "for now, let's not worry about that. Let's head home. I think we could all use some rest." Danny kept himself from saying it, but he really wanted to rest right that moment. They all got into the van, and within a few minutes Danny had fallen asleep.

He had never wanted to go to Zanar ever again. But in order to get his memories back, he would have to.

Sam reached over and put her hand over Danny's hand. "We made it." She smiled, "we'll get your memories back too! No matter what!"

A/N: Alright you guys! I'll be gone for two weeks starting Sunday! So I tried to make this chapter somewhat exciting :D hope you enjoyed it! Thank you all for your lovely reviews!


	12. Feelings

Shattered Tears

Chapter 12: Feelings

"Danny, I brought you some…" Sam stopped at the bottom of the stairs to the basement, looking around and didn't see Danny anywhere. In her hands she held a tray of food. She rolled her eyes with annoyance, "Where did he go?" She turned and headed back up the stairs. "Jeez, already he's on his feet when he should be resting!"

"Ha! You shouldn't be talking!" Tucker waited in the living room and walked up to Sam as she approached. He took the tray of food from her hands, "_I'll _look for Danny, _you _need to get some rest! You were shot twice!"

"Yeah, but I'm healed!"

"After two days? Liar." Tucker sighed, "you and Danny both need to take it easy!" He looked around the living room, "but seriously, where the hell is he? Valerie wants to run a few tests to make sure that his ectoplasmic energy isn't going crazy or something, I can't remember what her exact reason was."

"You should give him a few days to get used to his powers first." Sam thought back to the GIW Headquarters, "but I'm amazed that he was able to use his powers so well after he just got them."

"I'm amazed he survived! That much energy should've killed him!"

A voice spoke up near them, "Wow, such encouraging words."

Sam and Tucker both looked up and saw Danny floating in the air a few feet away, cross-legged with his head nearly touching the ceiling. "Dude, how long have you been there?"

"The entire time…" Danny turned to look away, "I can't get down…"

Sam and Tucker began to laugh.

"What! I don't know how to control it!" Danny bit his lip with embarrassment.

"Sorry," Sam chuckled, "it's just funny. It's like when you first got your powers five years ago. You had trouble controlling it then too; don't worry, you'll get the hang of it before too long."

"How long was I asleep?" Danny asked.

"You fell asleep on the way back home and slept all of yesterday. Are you feeling alright now?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I'm doing great. I just don't know how to stop floating!" Immediately after his words were said, his body stopped levitating and gravity violently pulled him to the ground. Acting quickly and skillfully, Danny managed to land perfectly on his feet. "Whoa." He laughed, "that was interesting."

"We'll have to work on that," Tucker stated. "but for now, you both should rest!"

"I'm fine," Danny assured him, "really I am!"

Tucker growled, "Ugh! I give up! Both of you are so stubborn!" Tucker held out the tray of food to Danny, "here. And dude, take it easy for a few days, alright?"

"Mmhm," Danny accepted the food, but looked at it oddly, "what is this?"

Sam replied, "It's food, just eat it."

Before him was a plate of multiple vegetables and what seemed to be white squares. Danny poked the white blob with his finger.

"It's tofu! It's good for you!" Sam barked.

Tucker patted Danny on the shoulder, "sorry, I let Sam make the food. She's a vegetarian."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "you are? Since when?"

"Forever." Sam replied, "if you don't want it, I'll take it."

"No, no, I'll eat it." Danny looked at Sam, "it's a nice day though, want to eat outside?"

Sam seemed a little surprised by his suggestion, but nodded in agreement. "There's a nice place on the roof that I like to go to when it's nice out. Come on, I'll show you." Sam headed up the stairs, followed by Danny, which left Tucker standing there by himself.

"They're both idiots." Tucker chuckled and headed down toward the basement.

Down the hall upstairs past Danny's (Sam's) room was another set of stairs which led to a door, the pair walked up those stairs and when the door was opened, it led to the roof of Fenton Works.

It was indeed a nice day, the sun brightly shined down on them and lit up the entire city. Sam walked to the edge of the roof and sat down with her legs dangling over the edge. She nodded for Danny to come sit next to her.

Danny sat and placed the tray of food beside him.

Sam opened her mouth to speak, "Hey, um…thanks for coming to save me. I guess I really am helpless without someone's help. I thought for sure that I could go in there, get the info I needed and leave, but I guess it's never that easy, huh? But…a part of me knew that I would end up having to fight, and I completely ignored that feeling and went anyway. I'm sorry that I can be such a burden. I promise I'll try harder to be of more help to you from now on!"

"Sam, you don't need to apologize. Thanks to you, I was able to get these powers back. You've done so much for me already. You didn't give up on me even though I refused to believe what you were telling me when we first met. I have a chance to get my memories back now. I have you to thank for that." Danny turned to face away from Sam and put his hand on the back of his neck with embarrassment, "uh, that sounded really stupid. Sorry."

Sam laughed, then reached over and messed up Danny's hair roughly with her hand, "you're still as pathetic as you were before. I like it."

Danny's face brightened red, "th-thanks."

They sat in silence for several minutes, enjoying the peaceful and quiet surroundings. Then Danny finally spoke up, "are you guys really serious about coming with me to Zanar?"

Not taking a moment to consider, Sam replied "of course! We won't let you go by yourself! Tucker, Valerie and I may not be as strong as those assassins, but we can do some damage when we need to! We've been up against many strong enemies in the past, and we've managed to live through all of it! Even the so-called impossible foes, like the Ghost King or Dark Dan…we were able to fight them and defeat them!"

"But Zanar is…it's one of the most powerful organizations! The lower ranked assassins won't be too much of a problem…but my master and Z-1completely overpower me in every way!"

"And that's why you have friends to back you up." Sam smiled, "you can't always win by yourself. You need some support."

"Still, before we even think about heading over there, there's some things you need to know about Zanar…" Danny blinked a few times before continuing, "I never did tell you much about Zanar…" he looked away for a moment, closing his hands into fists.

"Danny, you don't have to talk about it, I know that you're still uncomfortable with-"

"It's not that I'm uncomfortable. It's just that I still feel somewhat loyal to them. I don't want to work for them anymore, but it's just hard to go against their rules." Danny sighed deeply, "the first thing I'm able to remember is waking up and seeing my Master there. He's the one who taught me everything I know about fighting. There were times that I looked up to him like he was a father. He took care of me for so long. And now after going to the Guys in White organization, I learned that my Master may have been lying to me that entire time. Everything he said to me was encouraging, but it turns out that Zanar is the one that is holding my memories…and he had to have known that! So why wouldn't he tell me that?"

Sam shook her head, "I don't know. We might be able to find that out when we're there. But, it may not have all been lies. He probably did care about you."

"Sam, these are assassins! They _don't _care. I just wanted to believe that Master cared about me and was taking care of me, but if I think about it enough, I realize that it was probably all an act. With his trust, he was able to teach me so much about _fighting_. That was their goal from the beginning, to have a completely obedient assassin as their pet!"

"Danny, it's okay." She placed her hand on top of his own to calm him down, "whatever their method was, it didn't work. You're here now. And we'll get your memories back so you can continue from where you left off."

Danny nodded, "I guess you're right. About what I was saying, there are a few things you need to know about Zanar…" he sighed, "but I'll leave that for another time. I'll have to tell you, Tucker and Valerie. So I can do that later."

Sam nodded, "alright."

"But um…there was something I've been wanting to ask…"

-Flashback-

_"I thought that we already settled this. You can't bring yourself to kill me; I know you can't. Do you know why that is!"_

_Danny continued to glare, but he didn't reply, in his mind, he was curious why he couldn't bring himself to kill this woman! _

_"Because no matter how clueless of an idiot you were…you can't deny that you loved me! And I loved…no…I still love you!"_

-Present-

Danny brought up that moment from a short while back. "You remember?"

"Y-yeah. What about it?" Bringing up that time made Sam turn red, it was quite embarrassing. She had admitted at that time that she loved Danny, which was something she was never able to tell him before he had disappeared.

"Before I left, what was I like? Were we…um…together?"

Sam's eyes widened by his assumption, "n-n-no!" She chuckled nervously, "we never were actually together! But you see…I'm sure that we both shared the same feelings…we were just too shy to actually admit it. So, it's complicated…"

"Oh." Danny bit his lip, "gotcha."

"But, to answer your other question. Before you left, you were…" Sam thought for a moment, "pretty much the same as you are now! Except…a little less violent I guess. But…you still are the same person…I don't want you to think that what I said means you have to love me or anything!" Sam quickly spoke, "I just know that you _did_, but of course I understand if your feelings have changed since you don't remember anything from before! Don't feel pressured or anything! Sorry that I put you on the spot like that."

"But I do! I mean…" Danny lowered his voice, "I don't think that my feelings for you are any different than they were before… you told me before that I should listen to what my heart is telling me. I didn't understand it before, but I guess logic doesn't mean anything in this case, because my thoughts aren't always what I _want_ to do. My mind and my thoughts may have changed the past few years, but I'd like to think that my heart is still the same."

"It is, I can tell." Sam leaned toward Danny quickly and pecked him on the lips.

Danny's eyes widened and his heart sped up, "what was that for?"

"Nothing much. Just a little thank you for opening up to me a little bit." She smirked, "don't look so shocked, we kissed before remember?"

At that statement, Danny turned fully red, "r-right." How could he forget? Their first meeting since his arrival and he made out with a complete stranger! Well, she was a stranger to him at the time.

Danny wasn't sure what pushed him forward, but something inside of him forced him to lean toward Sam and capture her lips with his own. For the first few seconds, it was like two walls colliding, both being very nervous and held back, but as time passed, they melted into the kiss, allowing their bodies to close the gap between them, all the while holding together.

They pulled apart for a brief moment to catch their breath, but quickly resumed their kiss. Sam ran her hands up Danny's spine and past his neck, rolling her fingers through his raven-black hair. Danny was much too shy to allow his hands to roam like Sam was doing, but settled with wrapping his arms around her waist to hold her closer to him.

Sam parted her lips to allow Danny's tongue entrance to her mouth. All the while, Danny turned red. It's not that he didn't enjoy this, but he never imagined that he would be this close to someone.

After what seemed to be only a few moments of bliss, Sam and Danny pulled apart to gasp for air and allow their hearts to calm down.

Neither of them knew what to say at this point. Danny looked over and noticed the tray of food that he hadn't touched. He was sure that it would be cold now, even though it was so warm outside. Danny quickly picked up the plate of vegetables and tofu and grabbed his fork, "I uh…forgot about my dinner…" he took a chunk of the food on his fork and quickly put it in his mouth.

At first, he tasted a strange spicy flavor, then a tasteless crunchy vegetable, and then his mouth was filled with a strange taste that was immediately rejected by his taste buds. Not able to keep the food in his mouth, he quickly spat out the veggies and tofu onto the plate. "Oh my god! What the hell IS that!" He choked and coughed.

Sam was neither disgusted nor angry by his action, in fact she found it quite hilarious. She leaned backward and held her stomach while she burst out laughing.

Danny glared at her, "what did you put in this!"

Catching her breath, Sam replied, "I didn't do anything to it. All I put was vegetables and tofu!"

Danny looked carefully at the food he had spat out. "Well, then that tofu must be rotten!"

"I'm guessing you didn't have tofu at Zanar. Some people just don't like tofu, but _I _like it." Sam laughed, "I didn't expect you to like it, I gave you tofu in the past and you had the same reaction. Sorry, stupid prank."

"If you like tofu so much then _here_!" Danny grinned and tossed a cube of tofu at Sam.

"You are such a child, Danny!" Sam grabbed the tofu and threw it back at him. She had to admit, it was nice having a playful and somewhat goofy Danny once again, just like old times. She could only hope that it would last…soon they would have to go and fight Zanar. Sam had a horrible feeling in her gut. She was worried about going there. She was afraid of losing Danny again, or possibly losing Tucker or Valerie. But for now, she wanted to enjoy her time with Danny.

* * *

"Z-5 reporting in to base." Standing on the branch of a tree, a teenage boy crouched low, wearing a green camouflage outfit to blend in with the leaves; and he was currently holding a long rifle which was balancing on a separate branch slightly above the branch he crouched on. He steadied the rifle with his hand and looked through the small hole to get a close view of what he was aiming at. Even at such a far distance, Z-5 had a nearly perfect accuracy no matter how close or far the target was.

Z-5 specialized in sniping, although he could also do hand-to-hand combat, he was much better at far distant killing. Z-5 continued speaking, "I have the target in view. There's little to no wind currently, it will be an easy shot."

"Very well." A voice replied from the ear piece that Z-5 wore. "You have permission to fire any time."

Even in the small view that Z-5 had, he was still able to perfectly see what he was doing. The center of the X in his view was where the bullet would hit. He carefully aimed his gun at the two teens that sat on the edge of Fenton Works. The slightest movement would throw the bullet off course. Z-5 had to be careful.

The center of the X now rested on the forehead of the girl that sat next to Danny, previously known as Z-3. _You won't be able to escape my bullet, girl. Even Z-3 can't avoid the speed of my rifle. _His index finger slowly curled back until he touched the trigger.

In a split second, Z-5 pulled the trigger and the bullet was fired. He felt the recoil of the gun against his body, but managed to keep still and watch the scene through the small magnified view of his target. He saw blood splash into the air and then the female was no longer in view. "Mission complete."

**A/N: I'm back from my camp, I hope you'll forgive my absence! Here's the next chapter! I should've warned you about the DXS stuff, huh? But, you shouldn't be too shocked! This story IS a romance fanfic, if you all didn't notice. Don't worry though, for all you violent/blood lovers, there will be fighting soon enough! **

**I am aware that this chapter was for the most part ridiculous and quite unnecessary, but my intention was to have a lighter and somewhat happier chapter. I hope that this chapter wasn't too annoying for you guys. And if it was, I sincerely apologize!**


	13. Frozen

Shattered Tears

Chapter 13: Frozen

_In a split second, Z-5 pulled the trigger and the bullet was fired. He felt the recoil of the gun against his body, but managed to keep still and watch the scene through the small magnified view of his target. He saw blood splash and the female was no longer in view. "Mission complete."_

* * *

Danny and Sam were talking and laughing, it was very sudden that Danny's mood changed. His ear twitched the slightest bit and he reacted before he even knew what was happening. He didn't have time to tell Sam to duck. His body moved faster than he could comprehend. Danny launched himself in front of Sam and proceeded to push her down flat onto the roof.

Sam coughed sharply as her back slammed against the roof, "Danny! What the hell was that for!" She looked at Danny who was on all fours on top of her. She immediately saw the blood that was spilling from his body as well as the blood that seemed to have splashed across the roof. "Danny! What happened!"

Danny tried to stand up but collapsed next to Sam, blood spilled from the wound in his shoulder. Sam started to get up but Danny quickly grabbed her arm and yanked her back down, "Stay _down_! Don't get up! He's still watching. If he sees you get up then he'll know he didn't make the shot."

"Who?"

"Z-5. That's the only one who is a sniper among the 10 ranked members." Danny's vision was blurring. He was losing too much blood too quickly.

"Danny, I need to go get you some help!"

"Just wait a few minutes! I'll be fine! If you stand up you're dead!"

Sam grit her teeth and proceeded to rip off the bottom half of her shirt, leaving her stomach completely bare. She bunched up the cloth and pressed it down onto Danny's wound. "We have to stop the bleeding! Or you'll die!" She grabbed Danny's hand and pulled it toward the wound, "hold this here! Press down on it. I'll get us inside." She remained on her stomach to keep from being seen and grabbed Danny's free arm. She used her legs and arms to drag Danny across the roof.

She nearly held her breath from the stench of the blood. As she dragged Danny, a long line of thick blood was smeared across the roof. The roof was completely horizontal, which was an advantage because at a certain point, Sam was able to get up and not be seen by anyone who was watching them. Sam threw the door open that led to the stairs which would bring them to the second floor of the house. "Tucker! Valerie! Get over here, _now_!"

Sam didn't want to hurt Danny any more by dragging him down the stairs, so she had to wait for the others to arrive. However, she turned her attention to Danny and helped him press on the wound. Her shirt cloth was completely soaked in blood.

"The bullet went all the way through. This cloth isn't going to do much." Danny muttered. His face was quickly turning pale.

"You're losing too much blood!" Sam pressed as hard as she could against the wound in hopes of stopping the bleeding. "Hang in there Danny!"

Tucker and Valerie quickly arrived.

"Help me carry him down to the lab! Hurry!"

* * *

_I can't believe it. Zanar just sent that one kid not that long ago to try and kill Danny, and already they've sent someone else to attack us! Is Zanar that desperate to get rid of Danny? _Sam narrowed her eyes, _no…wait…this time they were after me! That's right. Danny jumped in front of me and took the bullet himself. Are they trying to kill both of us now? Will Tucker and Valerie be next? _

Down in the lab, it was completely hectic. Sam had blood all over her and she was quickly working on bandaging his wounds while Tucker inserted an IV needle into Danny's arm and Valerie brought in several bottles of medicine to clean the wounds and bring down Danny's temperature.

Sam shook her head, "Valerie, we need to clot the wound right now. Get the heat iron ready." Normally she would want to just bandage the wounds and wait for them to heal, but right now, the wound wasn't closing up. Their heat iron was a flat surface of iron that was capable of heating to a very high temperature.

The bullet had gone completely through, so they didn't have to worry about pulling the bullet out.

Valerie arrived moments later with the heat iron ready for use. It was steaming from the top.

Danny breathed rapidly with shock, his heart was racing in his chest, he could feel himself slowly losing consciousness.

"Danny, this will hurt, I'm sorry, but we have to stop the bleeding."

Danny nodded quickly with understanding.

Sam bit her lip and took the heat iron from Valerie. She held it for a moment, hesitating; then she quickly pressed it onto Danny's shoulder. His skin instantly burned on contact, he let out a wail of agony as his shoulder was fried beneath the iron.

When Sam brought the heated iron off of his skin, there was a crusted layer where the scab had formed. Tucker and Valerie rolled Danny to his side so that Sam could burn the opening on the back of his shoulder. It scabbed as quickly as the front, and was just as painful for Danny.

"Tucker, start treating the burn. Valerie, I want you to draw blood from your body and put it in a bag so we can start giving Danny some more blood."

Valerie raised an eyebrow, "are Danny and I the same type?"

"You're both type A. Now hurry!"

Tucker grabbed a wet cloth and started to wipe away the blood that surrounded Danny's wounded shoulder. "Hang in there, dude." He said as he poured medicine on the burn, "try to stay calm."

Danny grit his teeth, and his eyes were tightly shut. "Tucker, he tried to get Sam…" He could barely speak while he heaved in and out and fought to stay awake, "don't let…don't let anyone go outside…"

"Calm down." Tucker put a hand on Danny's good shoulder, "we'll be fine in here, I promise." He wanted to keep Danny from using up his energy talking, he could only assume that it was Zanar that took a shot at Sam. Tucker looked over at Sam who had her hand over her mouth, tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she looked at Danny. "He's going to be okay." Tucker assured her, "but we should listen to what he says, we should all stay in the basement, there's no windows or ways to get in."

Sam nodded in understanding.

Valerie walked up to Tucker and held out the bag that she had drawn her blood into, "I already ran a test on my blood, I'm perfectly healthy and it can be used." Tucker nodded and accepted the bag, attaching it to the rack beside Danny and began to set it up for Danny to receive the blood. "It looks like with the blood, Danny will be alright. I've cleaned the wounds, so there shouldn't be any infections. There might be some nerve damage, but I can't tell. I'll be able to know more later once Danny is awake."

"Thanks, Tuck'." Sam exhaled deeply.

"Sam, get some rest," Valerie placed a hand on Sam's shoulder. "We'll take care of Danny. You don't look very well."

"Yeah, well, that was all pretty scary. And whoever it was is still out there!" Sam walked over to the corner and sat down, leaning her back against the wall. "I just can't believe that this is all happening…Why can't Zanar just leave us alone!" A tear rolled down from her eye, "I don't want to see Danny suffer anymore!"

Tucker kept his eyes on Danny, "none of us do, Sam."

* * *

Danny groaned and opened his eyes, only to be met with a world of pain. The muscles in his body tightened on their own as Danny grit his teeth and tried to bear the pain. Danny had been shot before, but he didn't remember it hurting like this. However, all of the other times had been with a regular gun, this time he had been sniped. He was lucky to be alive!

He glanced at his shoulder where the bandages were tightly layered. "Damn." He cringed, forcing himself to sit up despite his body's obvious objection to the movement. Danny looked around the lab and let out a sigh of relief when he saw Sam, Tucker and Valerie all sleeping on mattresses in the corner.

Although they probably just wanted to be in the lab to make sure he was alright, Danny was happy that they were away from the windows so that they wouldn't be seen by Z-5. For several minutes he sat there, thinking.

Danny's eyes narrowed with fury. _How dare he. I knew that he would keep sending his men, but I didn't think that they would go after Sam! At least, I thought that they would try to take me out long before they went after her, Tucker or Valerie. This can't go on. I won't allow it!_ With a hiss of pain, Danny pulled out the IV from his arm and the blood bag which had been giving him blood, then Danny rolled over to the edge of the table and quietly got down.

His movements were slow and careful. Not only was he trying his best not to wake the others, he was also trying to keep himself from hurting his shoulder anymore. Danny walked over to the set of stairs and climbed up them.

Then, Danny made his way over to the phone in their living room; even small movements were painful for his shoulder. There would probably be some permanent damage, Danny thought. He reached for the phone but stopped before he could touch it. He sighed and shook his head, gathering up the courage in his chest.

Finally, Danny picked up the phone and called a particular number. Never before had he called this number, although he knew it by heart.

A cold voice answered almost immediately, "I've been waiting for your call."

Danny froze in place with the phone up against his ear. On the phone, Danny was speaking to Alexander, also known as Z-1, the leader of the Zanar organization. Rather than greeting the man, Danny went straight to the point, "leave them out of this! It's me that you want, so don't you dare try to do something like this again!"

"You've brought this upon yourself, Z-3."

"Don't call me that!" Danny snapped. "You know that I'm done with Zanar! I don't plan on giving out information about Zanar! So please just leave us alone!" Danny hated to sound so pathetic, he was actually pleading for this man to leave him and his friends alone. However, Danny already knew the answer.

"You've called me on my personal phone for something so ridiculous? You know the rules. A traitor among Zanar will be taken care of, along with anyone involved, which includes your little friends."

Danny clenched his fist. He couldn't think of a reply. For several moments, there was silence between them.

"Is that all?" Alexander asked almost smugly. "Or was there something else you felt the need to waste my time with?"

Danny narrowed his eyes, "Who was the one that sent the request for me to kill Sam? You assigned the mission, but it was someone else who hired you, so who was it?"

"That's confidential information, I am not allowed to give such info to someone who isn't a member of Zanar."

Danny growled in the back of his throat, "Fine. One last question. You worked with the Guys in White, and they said that you guys are the ones that took my memories, is that true!"

"That is accurate information. In fact, the one in charge of the operation was none other than Charles, all the information on that subject is kept with him."

Danny's eyes widened, "My master was the one…?"

Almost laughing, Alexander continued, "Oh, how clumsy of me, I shouldn't be giving out such valid information.

Slamming his fist down onto the table in front of him, Danny barked "bull shit! Are you just messing with me now! I'm _warning_ you! Leave my friends out of this!"

"It's your fault for getting involved with them." Alexander calmly pointed out, "you ignored your orders and therefore have to pay for what you've done."

"I _didn't_ bring this on myself! I didn't ask to have my family killed! I didn't ask to have my powers and my memories taken away! I didn't ask to work for _you_! None of this was my fault! You had to have known that I wouldn't be able to kill my friends! So why the hell did you assign this mission!"

Alexander replied, "actually, Z-3, I didn't know that you would be unable to fulfill your mission. A request was brought in to kill Samantha Manson, and I thought you would be able to do a mission as easy as this. But I was wrong. I was truly hoping that you would complete the mission and report back to headquarters. I realize now that it was useless to accept you into Zanar. I have no need for employees that so easily fall into the arms of their target and become blinded by emotions."

"You bastard…" Danny growled.

"I will no longer tolerate your behavior. I assure you that your friends wont live much longer. You can struggle and run for as long as you want, but it will not make a difference."

Eyes blazing a bright green, Danny replied "we won't struggle _or _run! We won't fall by your pathetic attempts of breaking us apart! I promise you that I will take down anything you throw at us! I will protect what I have left! I won't let you take _anything _else away from me! And you will pay for what you have done to my family and my friends!"

"Is that a threat, Z-3?" Alexander asked with a hint of amusement.

"It's more than a threat, you bastard! It's a promise!" Danny slammed the phone down onto the receiver, cutting off the call completely. He breathed heavily with fury and his shoulder throbbed painfully.

For several minutes, Danny stood by the phone, taking his time to calm down. He grit his teeth, his body flaring up with energy once more, "I can sense you." He whispered under his breath. Instinct took over his body and Danny's legs morphed into a ghostly tail as he jumped into the air and soared through the ceiling into the open air. He didn't fully become his Phantom self, but several parts of him had slowly changed to represent his ghostly image.

Going several hundred miles an hour, Danny sped toward the trees in the distance, his arms outstretched in fists and his teeth bared dangerously. He became intangible, speeding _through _the trees until he reached his destination. As he suspected, Z-5 was still hiding, waiting to see if he had in fact killed Sam with his shot. Danny became tangible just a moment before reaching Z-5.

Z-5 was unable to see Danny coming and was caught by surprise when a punch contacted his side and sent him flying into the open grass area nearby. He rolled a few times on the grass but managed to catch himself and stand up, holding his side and peering left and right for any movements.

Danny dropped down to the ground several feet away from Z-5, "I haven't seen you in a while, Jake."

Z-5, real name Jake Hunter, stood his ground and stared at Danny with narrowed eyes. "What the hell happened to you, Z-3?"

Danny looked down at himself, noticing the fact that he was glowing green and wore a strange black outfit, his hair however, was not white at the moment. "A few things have happened. I'm here to tell you that you should leave now, go back to headquarters or you'll have to deal with me."

Jake chuckled, "I'm guessing that my shot missed, considering that you're not trying to kill me right now." He looked harder and noticed the bandaged shoulder which was stained red "or perhaps not. I just got the wrong target. Man, you must be a really lucky guy, most people die after getting shot by me."

"You should be happy that you managed to shoot me and not Sam, otherwise you would have been dead a long time ago." Danny was doing well to hide it, but he was in agony from his shoulder, the constant throb was making his entire body feel weak. "You don't stand a chance against me right now. I have some new powers that you won't be able to keep up with very well, I can tell you that from experience."

Jake burst out laughing, "I thank your for your advice, but it would damage my reputation to leave now." He pulled out a hand gun and loaded it.

"I warned you." Danny launched himself forward, jumping off the ground and shooting forward like a bullet. He brought his fist back and drove it into Jake's stomach.

Jake's eyes widened with shock at the speed Danny was going, saliva sprayed from his mouth as he was thrown backward at least ten feet. He slid on the ground, dirt stained his clothes. After slowing to a stop, Jake held his stomach and coughed, trying to regain his breath.

Danny took a few steps forward. Jake instinctively raised the gun from where he lay on the ground and fired a bullet. "What the-!" The bullet went straight through Danny.

"If I hadn't become intangible just then, that bullet would've done some damage." Danny commented.

Jake fired again, and again. Both times, the bullets didn't hurt Danny. "Damn it! What are you!"

Danny didn't answer that question because even he didn't quite know what he was. With these strange powers…what exactly was he? Danny marched forward and grabbed the front of Jake's shirt, lifting him up off the ground and brought him close to his face, "I'll give you another chance to leave and never bother me or my friends again. Don't you EVER try to shoot Sam again! Get it!"

"What the hell happened to you, Z-3! You fell in love with some bitch that you were supposed to kill! What happened to your pride for Zanar!"

Danny furiously punched Jake across the jaw, sending him to the ground once more. "Don't you _dare _talk about Sam that way!" Something inside of him snapped as Jake insulted Sam in such a way, "I _never_ had a pride working for Zanar! I only worked because that's all I knew what to do! After meeting Sam, I realized that I could be happy and I realized that I could _love_! Zanar only exists to ruin the lives the people that they assassinate as well as the people that work there!"

Danny brought his foot back and kicked Jake in the ribs, he bore his teeth dangerously, like a wolf ready to kill it's prey. "Zanar ruined _everything_!" He kicked again, this time striking Jake in the face.

Blood started to drip from Jake's nose. "You're crazy! You want to know why Zanar wants you dead! You're too strong! If you don't have a leash on, there's not telling what you'll do! You're friends know too much, they need to be taken care of too! You should understand that!"

"Shut up!" Danny clenched his fist, ready to strike Jake again but stopped midway. His eyes widened. _What am I doing! _He shook his head, _I need to calm down. At this rate, I'll end up killing him! Just calm down. _He couldn't get his heart to stop racing. There was something different than before…not too long ago, he managed to control his urges to kill…so what was driving him now? Danny look at his fist that shined with green energy. _This power…_

Jake noticed that Danny had stopped and immediately took advantage. He swung his legs up and kicked Danny on the knee, causing the teen to stumble backwards. Jake quickly stood up and brought himself right up to Danny, he swung the end of his gun down onto Danny's injured shoulder, striking the wound with great force.

Danny stepped back several feet, holding his shoulder tenderly and releasing a glass-shattering cry of pain. He breathed heavily, trying to ignore the horrible pain. He could see the bandage begin to stain red. _Damn it, he opened the wound. _

"It would be better for all of us if you would just _die_!" Jake took aim and fired several rounds.

Danny jumped out of the way of the bullet. He had thought he could become intangible again, but at the last second he realized that he was unable to. Danny hadn't fully mastered his powers yet, in fact, he didn't know exactly what he was doing, he was mostly fighting with his powers by instinct.

"Nice dodge, but I can see that you're at your limit. You're powers are quite handy, but I doubt you can last much longer relying on them. And once you're down, I'll be able to kill that gothic bitch of yours and be on my way to HQ."

Danny stood tall, his green eyes cooled to a bright blue. "I'll never let you or anyone else lay a hand on Sam!" The tips of the grass frosted with ice all around Danny. Jake could see his breath rise in front of his mouth. "_Now_ you've pissed me off, Jake! I told you already to leave us alone! It looks like you wont listen to me." In both of Danny's hands, ice gathered and shaped into long, sharp daggers. He clasped his hands around the newly formed weapons.

Danny lunged forward, quicker than Jake could follow and thrust one of the daggers into Jake's stomach. A pained moan escaped from Jake's mouth. Danny followed that attack by bringing the other dagger up and slicing Jake across the cheek. With that movement, Danny cringed from the pain in his shoulder but continued his attack.

Blood began to soak Jake's shirt and drip down his face. He could hardly breathe. Jake fell to the ground, not speaking, but still breathing.

The adrenaline in Danny's body took over his thoughts. He held the bloody iced knives in his hands, ready to end Jakes life.

_You're not a killer!_ Danny took a moment to breathe slowly. _Don't kill him! You're not an assassin anymore! _He took a step back, _he may have said some cruel things, but nothing to kill him for! You'll never be able to fight against Zanar if you're still one of them! _Danny yelled at himself inside of his head.

He took another step back and dropped the ice daggers in his hand.

"W-what are you doing?" Jake quietly asked, barely able to speak.

"I'm not a killer." Danny said to both Jake and himself. "I won't kill anyone ever again! I'm…I'm not a murderer!" He looked at Jake who would bleed to death if he wasn't treated soon.

* * *

"Where did Danny go!" Tucker barked, looking at his computer and going through all of the video footage from the cameras in the house.. "He wouldn't go off to Zanar by himself would he!"

Sam shook her head, "there's no way he would!"

Valerie sighed, "let's just wait a little while to see if he shows up again. I just hope that he won't do anything reckless…"

All three of them turned their heads when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs into the lab.

In walked Danny, his heavily bandaged shoulder was stained red with blood. Danny half carried another person who was bleeding excessively from a wound in his stomach. "I know this is a lot to ask…" Danny muttered, "but could you guys help him?"

"Don't you even _think_ about helping me!" Jake snarled, his voice strained a bit. "It's a disgrace to be treated by an enemy!"

"Shut the hell up," Danny half-heartedly barked, "you can go back once they patch you up. Oh, but don't think that you can be treated while you're _awake_." Danny thrust his hand against the side of Jake's neck, hitting a certain point that caused Jake to fall unconscious immediately. "Otherwise that would be trouble."

"Danny, who is this!" Sam demanded.

"Don't worry, he won't wake up for several hours. But can you at least stop the bleeding?" Danny looked concerned, he was afraid that Jake was going to die from blood loss.

Sam, Tucker and Valerie all helped place Jake on the table and began to wrap up his wounds.

Halfway through the treatment, Sam realized that Danny wasn't there any longer. She excused herself from the other two and walked upstairs to find Danny sitting on the couch. She walked over and sat down next to him. "You're wound opened up."

Danny nodded, "only for a bit, it's stopped bleeding now."

"Are you going to tell me who that is?"

Danny sighed and leaned back on the couch, "His name is Jake. But most people know him as Z-5."

Sam's eyes widened with shock and horror. "You mean…that's the guy who took a shot at me? He's the one who ended up shooting you!"

Danny nodded, "I left earlier to go take care of him…and for a while, I was ready to kill him. I really was." Danny put his face into his hands, "I don't know what urged me to kill him, I've been doing well with holding back. I guess the violent part of me that Zanar created still exists inside of me. I realized that today. And I don't know if I'll ever be able to fully change that."

Sam placed her hand on Danny's back in comfort, "we all have tough times, Danny. And it's up to us what to make of it. You wanted to kill him, I can understand why, but you didn't. And that's something, right? You were able to hold yourself back."

"Yeah, I guess so." Danny smiled, "Thanks, Sam."

Sam leaned in and kissed Danny quickly before standing up and heading back down to the lab.

Danny was deep in thought when he realized that he hadn't heard from Danielle in quite a while. He stood up and went upstairs to the guest room. He quietly knocked on the door.

"Come in." A soft voice replied.

Danny opened the door slowly, peeking in before stepping all the way in.

"Hey cous'." Danielle brightly smiled, "how's your shoulder?"

"I'll be alright. How long have you been in here? Why don't you come downstairs sometimes?"

Danielle had been sitting on her bed, and she remained sitting as she spoke, "well, right now I need to keep up my strength by resting. I have two duplicates that are in separate places checking out some things. It's pretty difficult to have them so far away from me. But once they're all done with everything, I'll be sure to hang out with you guys more often."

Danny narrowed his eyes, "what are your duplicates doing?"

"Don't worry about it, it's nothing much." She sweetly smiled, but Danny was able to see through that smile, something was troubling her. However, Danny didn't want to press her with questions.

"Alright, well. In a few days, when I'm recovered a bit more, do you think you would be willing to train with me? Lately I've managed to keep my feet on the ground and not go invisible at random times and everything, but I'm still not sure about all of my powers."

Danielle beamed, "yeah! I'd love to do that! Let me know when you're ready. I'll have my duplicates back before too long, so I'll be able to help you out!"

"Cool." Danny returned the smile and left the room. He desperately needed some training before he headed out to Zanar. Right now, it was all raw power that he could easily lose control of. "Just you wait Zanar, I'll be there before too long to take back what's mine!"

* * *

Alexander looked up from his papers at his second in command, Charles, aka: Z-2. "Your pupil never fails to amuse me, Charles. I'm sure you know that he called me last night."

"Yes, sir, I am aware."

"He plans on attacking Zanar with this three friends. Apparently he plans on taking back his memories."

Charles said nothing.

Alexander looked up, "You have his memories stored in a safe place, correct?"

"Yes, sir." Charles replied.

"I want you to destroy everything. All of his memories. Can you do that Charles?"

Charles nodded, "Yes, sir. I will take care of that immediately." He turned and left Alexander's office.

**A/N: Here's a slightly longer chapter to make up for the previous chapter which was a bit short. I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you all so much for your reviews!**


	14. Ghost Zone

Shattered Tears

Chapter 14: Ghost Zone

Danielle fell to all fours on a nearby platform that hovered amongst the never-ending mass of green and purple ectoenergy. Sweat dripped from her face and soaked her shirt. "Damn it." She forced herself to stand up and looked all around. There didn't seem to be anyone nearby. "Hello?" She called out not too loudly for fear of being heard by unwanted enemies. "Is anyone there?"

About thirty feet from where she stood, a person became visible. "You finally showed up! I was wondering if you were ever coming back!"

"Sorry, Youngblood." Danielle quickly apologized, "I was pretty busy with other stuff. I was attacked by one of the Dark Ones and ended up back in Amity Park."

The boy, Youngblood, had overtime dropped his role-playing act of pirate and cowboy and other such things. He stood just a bit taller than Danielle, having grown quite a bit over the last five years. (A/N: As proven in Ultimate Enemy, the ghosts in the Ghost Zone _do_ grow up). He wore a pair of black pants and a white t-shirt with a glowing red sword strapped to his side. His green hair was messy and faced in all directions. "The others are nearby," Youngblood said, "but they're being cautious, so I'm not sure if they will show. Things have gotten worse in just a few days."

Danielle shook her head, "this is awful! Is everyone alright though? Have the Dark Ones done anything else?"

"They were here a few days ago, they've been sealing off several of the ghost portals. Some of the ghosts have been staying on earth to hide."

Danielle jumped with surprise when another figure became visible just in front of her. Standing at about eight feet tall with black fur and a tail, Wulf looked at Danielle with a welcoming grin. He began to say a few things, none of which Danielle was able to understand.

"It's nice to see you're doing well, Wulf." Danielle smiled.

"Wulf was able to find some interesting information," Youngblood spoke up, "we think we might know who the person behind all of this is."

Danielle's eyes widened, "who!"

"Vlad Plasmius."

Danielle gaped with disbelief. "Whoa, wait! There's no way he would do all of this! I mean, yeah he's a jerk and is a power hungry bastard, but still!"

"We didn't say we knew for sure. But whoever it is…we'll defeat them and take back our homes!" Youngblood narrowed his eyes, "we can't let them take over everything! If we keep fighting, we can do this!"

Wulf barked in agreement.

There was a moment of silence before Youngblood spoke again, "hey, this is just a rumor, but is it true that Danny is back?"

At this, Danielle's face lit up, "yeah! It is true! He was alive all of these years!"

Youngblood chuckled, "Last time I saw him was when he defeated me and my allies."

Danielle bit her lip, "I know that you and lots of other people here were enemies with Danny in the past, but I'm sure Danny would help us with the Dark Ones and help to take back the Ghost Zone! Although…" she thought for a moment, _he has his own problems he has to deal with. I don't want to get in the way of him and the others while they're trying so hard to get his memories back from Zanar. _

"Nah, it's cool! We can do this by ourselves, right!" Youngblood placed a hand on Danielle's shoulder.

Wulf's lips pulled back and he began to growl.

Both Youngblood and Danielle looked around them on high alert. "Is it the Dark Ones?" Danielle asked.

Wulf nodded, he brought his arms out to his sides with his bright green claws ready to strike.

"We should hide!" Danielle quickly said to the other two, "if its only the three of us, we won't be able to do much! Also, right now I'm just a duplicate, I won't be able to do a whole lot here. I didn't want to risk bringing my real body into the Ghost Zone just yet."

"You sent a duplicate into the Ghost Zone! Isn't that a strain on your body having it so far away!"

"Yeah, but it's still better than getting hurt and possibly getting killed out here! I'm still half human, remember? I can still die."

Youngblood nodded, "that's true. But also, you do realize that ghosts can also 'die'. Not in the same way humans die of course, but we can be destroyed. And once a ghost is destroyed…they don't come back…"

Danielle nodded. "Either way, you guys should both get away from here, I'll come back tomorrow. See if you can try to gather a few people so we can figure out what our next move will be."

Youngblood and Wulf both nodded.

"Later." Danielle's duplicate vanished from the Ghost Zone.

Back in the guest room at Fenton Works, Danielle let out a sigh of relief as her body relaxed. "He's right, having a duplicate so far away is very strenuous." She still had one other duplicate that she was using which made her body weaker. But with one duplicate gone, she felt much better. Danielle stood up and left the room to make her way downstairs and into the kitchen to grab a quick snack.

* * *

For hours, Jake lay on his back with his eyes closed. He was conscious, but did well to pretend he wasn't. He thought back to all of the things Danny had told him while they fought. _Damn, he really has changed a lot._ Jake remembered when Danny was a statue compared to the rest of them, always taking orders and never showing emotion to pretty much everyone there, like a well trained dog. He knew that he would have to report everything back to HQ. Jake could only hope that his punishments wouldn't be too severe.

"I know you're awake, you can stop pretending." Danny said to Jake.

Jake opened his eyes and looked at Danny who stood next to the table that Jake lay on, his arms were crossed over his chest and he stared down at Jake with concerned eyes. Jake replied, "You don't need to worry, I don't plan on doing anything. It's not like I _can _do anything right now anyway."

"I know that. I'm just wondering what you're thinking about."

"Why?"

Danny sighed, "well, you are being helped by an enemy, which both of us know is a horrible disgrace for Zanar. So, I'm a bit worried."

Jake narrowed his eyes, "I don't plan on killing myself or anything. I haven't failed my mission just yet you know. And even if I did fail my mission, I wouldn't go to such extremes to make up for my mistakes. I think the people who do that are insane."

Danny bit his lip, "sorry, I didn't mean to jump to conclusions."

Jake shook his head, "I'm not like you. Or, I guess, I'm not like you _were_. I don't think of Zanar as my life, I just think of it as a job. However, over time, I probably will think of it that way, but for now, I'm still myself."

Danny nodded in understanding. "Just a moment ago, when you said that you hadn't failed your mission _yet_. Does that mean you still plan on carrying out your mission? I already told you that I won't let you hurt my friends." Danny calmly said, "so what are you going to do?"

Jake thought for a moment, "well, what I planned to do is head back to HQ and report what happened, obviously you were too powerful of an opponent and I wasn't able to defeat you. If Z-1 orders me to return and try again, then I will. But most likely, I will receive some sort of punishment for failing my mission and I will have to continue with a different mission. I doubt Z-1 expected me to succeed anyway. Also, I highly doubt my punishment will be severe! With Zanar on a downward spiral right now, Z-1 needs all the helpers he can get!" Jake chuckled.

"When you get back to headquarters, make sure you tell him that I won't take back what I said. Tell him to not send anyone else here because soon enough me and my friends will arrive at Headquarters and everything will be decided then. The odds are against us winning, but we won't back down." Danny grinned, "that's just how stubborn we are."

Jake raised his eyebrows and laughed lightly, "I'll be sure to pass on your message to him."

"Right now, I'm your enemy, and I am holding you against your will, so you won't be able to leave this place for a few days, alright? You should be well enough to get around on your own by then. So don't even think about leaving!"

"You know, you're not very good at 'holding me against my will'. If I really wanted to I could sneak out of here. But you do bring up a good point, I can't get around on my own right now."

"Exactly. Now, get some rest. The more you rest, the faster you can leave." Danny turned his head, "is that alright with you guys?"

Just around the corner toward the stairs, Sam, Tucker and Valerie cursed with annoyance that they had been discovered. "How long did he know we were here?" Tucker whispered to the other two.

"I have pretty good ears." Danny replied, having heard him even though he whispered. "And I'm nearly one hundred percent sure that Jake here knew you guys were there too."

Jake smirked, "I don't know if I would be able to call myself an assassin if I didn't sense them there. I'm not quite sure what they're reason was for listening in, but they didn't do a very good job at hiding."

Sam was the first to walk around the corner into view of Danny and Jake, "sorry, we were just curious what you guys were talking about. Also, I didn't want to leave Danny in the same room as _you_." Sam sharply emphasized the word 'you'.

"Sam," Danny replied, "it's okay, he won't do anything."

"He's an assassin! He could easily be lying!" Sam barked.

At this, Jake chuckled, "I'm sure that if I were lying, no matter how good I was, this guy here" he pointed at Danny, "could easily tell. He used to be an assassin too."

Sam pressed her lips together with annoyance, "I still don't trust you!"

"That's probably a good idea. It's never smart to trust assassins." Jake replied with a slight smile.

Sam glared at him before turning and leaving the basement.

Late that night, Sam was unable to sleep, she sat on the sofa in the living room staring at the floor. She was afraid that Jake would try to hurt or kill one of them and therefore spent the night on guard duty. Everyone was in their own rooms asleep. Even Danny had gone to bed earlier in his – and now Sam's – room.

The sound of footsteps coming from the basement startled Sam, she stood up and turned to face the stairway. From the basement, Jake walked into the living room not glancing once at Sam. He seemed to be walking perfectly fine, however his hand was placed over his abdomen where he had been stabbed previously.

Sam was surprised when she saw Jake walk right to the front door and leave, closing the door behind him. She blinked a few times and quickly ran after him. Sam closed the door behind her as well and caught up to him, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm well enough to move around now, so I figured I might as well leave." He chuckled, "it seems like I'm not all that welcomed here."

"You're leaving because of what I said!"

Jake shook his head, "no, it's not like that. I was surprised when Z-3 decided to save me, and I guess now I sort of owe him, so the least I can do now is get out of your way. You've all done enough."

"Well, of course he would save you!" Sam barked feeling a bit angry for him suggesting that Danny would leave him to die.

Jake sighed, "I don't think you get it. You don't get what it's like for _us_. For someone who is so used to taking lives and not giving a second thought…it is really difficult to save someone who you consider and enemy. I don't expect you to know what that's like. But I know Z-3 does! And for him to save me really showed me how much he's changed. This is probably the last time we'll see each other. Or at least, let's hope this is the last time we see each other, because next time I see you or any of your friends again, I won't hesitate to kill." Jake nodded a quick goodbye before turning and started walking away.

To both Jake and Sam's surprise, Danny stood about ten feet away leaning against the building with his arms crossed. "What? You're planning on leaving without saying goodbye?"

"How long have you been there?" Sam asked.

"The entire time. I had a feeling he would leave."

Jake narrowed his eyes at Danny, "you heard me tell her earlier, Z-3, I _will_ kill you and your friends in the future if I'm given the orders."

"And you heard me tell _you _the other day that I won't let anything happen to them." Danny smiled almost smugly, "either way. For now," Danny walked up to Jake and punched him lightly in the shoulder, "goodbye. Oh, and by the way, stop calling me Z-3. The name's Danny."

The corner of Jake's mouth pulled into a small smile, "later, _Danny_."

* * *

Back inside of Fenton Works, Sam and Danny sat at the kitchen table silently, Danny munched quietly on a piece of bread.

"I don't get it." Sam spoke up, "I don't get why you and him are so friendly like that. He could have killed you! He tried to kill me! And…you are able to just ignore all of that and trust him!"

At this, Danny stopped eating and bit his lip, "_I_ tried to kill you before, remember? I shot at you a few times, I held a knife up to you…I'm surprised that you can trust _me_ after all of that. It's not that I trust him completely, but I do know him and I trusted him not to try and kill you while he stayed here. I guess I sort of understand the situation he's in. But he meant what he said when he said that he would try and kill us later. So don't think that he'll take it easy when and if we see him again."

Sam nodded. "You do have a point. But it's still different," Sam put her hand over Danny's chest, "I knew that you still had a kind heart, and that's why I was able to believe in you from the beginning."

Danny turned a light shade of pink, "thanks," he smiled.

Something inside of Danny became uneasy with worry, he could only assume it was his ghost half that sensed the difference in the air. "Danielle." He quietly stated, standing up and breaking into a run toward the stairs that led up to the second floor. _She's gone._ He thought to himself. He opened the door to the guest room and sure enough, Danielle was no longer there.

"Danny, what happened?" Sam trailed closely behind Danny.

"Danielle just left."

"What?" She looked around, "where did she go?"

Danny's eyes fell toward a piece of paper that was placed on top of her pillow, he took a few steps forward and picked the paper up and read the words written on it.

_Hey guys, sorry I left without telling you. I know that you probably wouldn't let me go if I did tell you. There are some things I have to take care of. Don't worry about me, okay? Cous', promise me that you'll have your memories back by the time I return! I don't know how long I'll be gone. But I'll definitely come back! Also, sorry I wasn't able to practice with you, Cous'. I know I said I would help you with your powers, but something came up. Again, I'm really sorry. I hope you guys will all forgive me! Good luck! Sincerely, Danielle. _

"What could have happened that she needed to go take care of it by herself? Do you know anything about this?"

Sam shook her head, "no, I can't think of anything." She placed her hand on her forehead, "that idiot better not go and get herself into trouble!"

"Don't worry, she'll be okay, she promised that she would return!" Danny smiled. He tried to convince himself that everything would be alright with Danielle, but inside, he was really worried that something bad would happen to her.

* * *

Back inside of the Ghost Zone, Danielle met up with Youngblood and Wulf once more. "Anything new?" Danielle asked quietly.

Youngblood shook his head, "not yet. We've been gathering up some other people, they're waiting for us at Pariah's castle. Our hope is that the Dark Ones won't go looking there since it's a place that ghosts usually avoid."

Danielle nodded, "alright. I managed to get a few things" she pulled a backpack off and opened it to reveal some handy equipment such as ectoguns and Fenton Phones so that they could communicate. "Wulf, you okay?"

He growled out a sentence that Danielle couldn't understand and then suddenly he jumped in front of Danielle and Youngblood. A large red beam shot toward them from the distance, Wulf raised his right arm and slashed downward, opening a small portal in front of them. The blast of red went into the portal, disappearing from sight. The portal to some other dimension closed immediately.

"Dark Ones!" Danielle narrowed her eyes.

In the distance, a large mass of a black smoke-like figure appeared, it almost looked like a human. Based on the outline of the mass, it looked like a person wearing a large cloak that swayed back and forth. Its eyes glowed red as it stared at its prey.

"Dani, Wulf," Youngblood said, "if possible, let's try to catch this guy. It seems like there's only one Dark One here, we might be able to find out more about them and we can see about finding out who the leader really is!"

Both Danielle and Wulf nodded. Danielle jumped forward, charging her hands with green energy and Wulf allowed his claws to fully extend, gleaming with ectoenergy, running forward to catch up with Danielle. Youngblood unsheathed his sword, it was several feet long and the blade was red like blood. Youngblood charged his sword with his own energy, black flames began to shoot out from all sides of the sword. _Even though it's only one of them, they're extremely difficult to defeat. Even with three against one, I don't know if we stand a chance. But now that it's seen us, we won't be able to escape from it. So all we can do is fight. _"You both better not die!" Youngblood shouted, charging forward to catch up with them as they advanced toward the Dark One.

**A/N: How many of you remember that creature/ghost from chapter 6? I don't expect you to remember, so I thought I'd remind you. At the end of chapter 6, Danny was in the basement and the portal burst open, that's when Danielle showed up and a ghost was there as well, which you now know is called a "Dark One". Hopefully you remember it!**

**Anyway, my most sincere apologies to all you readers! I had a crazy/annoying writers block that I couldn't seem to break out of! This past week I've been trying to push through this chapter but no words seemed to come out correctly! I hope you'll forgive me for the long wait! I finally managed to get this chapter done and pull out of my writers-block! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, though!**


	15. Departure

Shattered Tears

Chapter 15: Departure

The shots rang in Sam's ears the moment after she pulled the trigger. Across the room in the basement were several targets. Each shot hit the targets dead center. Sam grinned at her success and put away her gun. She turned to look at Danny who was staring down at his hands. He narrowed his eyes with determination and dropped down into a slight crouch for support and stretched his hand out, palm forward. Danny gathered up green energy in his hand and released. Danny did manage to hit the target he was aiming for, however, the entire target was blown to bits.

"Damn it." Danny growled.

Sam laughed, "it worked, right? At least you can hit the target!"

"I'm trying to learn to control my powers. All of my hits are…more powerful than I want them to be."

Sam stepped closer to Danny, "well, I think you'll be fine." She moved even closer until she was pressed up against him, looking up into his eyes. "I'm surprised that the Zanar guy actually listened to you. He hasn't sent anyone else to attack us."

"Nobody has attacked us, but there are still people watching us." Danny informed her, "I don't know how much longer he's willing to hold up though. We're going to have to go soon."

Sam nodded, "I think we're ready."

It had been three weeks. Three weeks since Jake had left their home, and these past three weeks all of them had been training for their upcoming battle with Zanar.

"I hope you're right." Danny leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, savoring the taste of her mouth. He wrapped his arms around her to pull her impossibly closer to him. His stomach fluttered uncontrollably with butterflies.

Tucker walked into the basement, "hey, guys, I have work I need to do." He walked over and sat in his chair.

Danny pulled away from Sam for a moment, gasping for breath, "okay, we're not stopping you." He smiled innocently at Tucker before locking lips with Sam once more.

"Seriously, dude!" Tucker chuckled, "I really do have work, and I don't need _this_ around while I'm working! There's been some weird activity in the Ghost Zone and I've been trying to figure out what it is. With everything crazy going on, I haven't gotten a chance to go in there and check it out."

Danny and Sam reluctantly stopped kissing and turned their attention to what Tucker was saying. "Wait, you actually go _in _there?" Danny asked. He remembered seeing the portal open when Danielle arrived. "Is that safe?"

"We don't just jump in there," Tucker replied, "we go in the specter speeder. For the most part it's safe, but some of the ghosts are not so welcoming. But, I'm not too worried about it, there isn't any huge change in the Ghost Zone. The only time we really had to do something extreme was when the Ghost King escaped again."

"Ghost King?" Danny asked.

Sam replied, "you were here with us the first time he escaped and managed to defeat him, or at least lock him up, he's nearly impossible to _defeat_. But the second time was much more difficult without you here, but we were able to lock him up again. He's a strong ghost, I wouldn't be surprised if he escaped again."

Valerie came running down into the basement, "Danny!" She barked, "there's someone out front, they're from Zanar! They said they want to talk to you."

Danny's eyes widened, "stay _here_!" He growled, "all of you!" He broke into a sprint up the stairs from the basement and to the front door. He pressed his back against the wall right next to the door and then opened it slightly, peeking around the corner to see who it was. "Z-8?" He relaxed a bit. Z-8 was absolutely no match for him. Danny came around the corner, stepping out into the open. "What do you want?"

Z-8 was one of only two _ranked _woman Zanar members. Her brown hair was pulled up into a ponytail behind her, she had two machetes strapped to her sides with leather boots going halfway up her legs. She wore a tank top and shorts. Danny could tell from her appearance that she wasn't here for a fight, even if she did have weapons with her. If she had actually come to fight, she would have much more protection on her body. Z-8's real name was Shura, Danny never learned her last name though.

"It's been quite a while, Z-1 is wondering if you really plan on showing up." She tilted her head innocently, pouting her lip a slight bit. She was one of the few people that got on Danny's nerves a lot in the past. She always tried to seduce everyone who was ranked above her, except for the top two of course. But Danny was one of her targets. Danny never complained to his Master or Z-1 about her though.

"Shut up," Danny muttered, "tell him to shove it and leave us alone. We'll be there within the next week, alright!"

Shura took a few steps forward, swaying her hips back and forth as she walked. "I still can't believe you left Zanar," she came within a foot of Danny and reached out with her hand, lightly touching his shoulder with her fingers "it's been so lonely without you." Her hand slid down from his shoulder down his abdomen.

"Can you please take your hand off of me." Danny growled, not wanting to put up with her. Unlike some of the other lower ranked members, Danny wasn't attracted to this girl one bit, if anything he was disgusted to be near her.

"So harsh." She giggled, "I heard you had a girlfriend," Shura brought her other hand up and lightly touched his face. Danny turned his head away to try and avoid her hand. "what's she like?"

A gun loaded loudly nearby.

Shura turned her head sharply toward the front door of the house where Sam stood with a large, two-handed gun that was at least three feet long. "Step away from him, bitch, or I will blow your head off!"

Shura quickly took a few steps away from Danny, "so unfair." She groaned, trying her best to hide her fear of Sam, but was miserably failing, "oh well, I'll have to try again next time." She turned to leave, "don't forget, _Danny_."

Danny narrowed his eyes. For once, he _didn't _like having someone call him by his name. "I'll remember." He waited until she was completely out of sight before turning to Sam.

"You _idiot_!" Sam barked, "why didn't you walk away! You were just going to let her put her hands all over you! That disgusting bitch!" Sam fumed with anger.

"Sam, I wasn't going to let her do anything. If she tried anything, I would've stopped her."

"But she _was _trying! You didn't stop her! She's not allowed to touch you!"

"If I had resisted her the moment she got near me, that would only encourage her. She's like a child, just ignore her and she'll leave you alone." Danny put his hand on Sam's shoulder, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to upset you." He looked down at the large gun in her hands, "you do realize that gun isn't loaded."

"Well, I loaded it, but it doesn't have a _bullet_ loaded." Sam pulled the trigger, the gun jerked a bit but nothing came out of the barrel of the gun. "If it had been loaded, I probably _would_ have killed her."

Danny chuckled.

"So, the only reason she came here was to tell you that the Zanar guy is being impatient?"

Danny nodded, "we're going to have to go there within the next few days. We should start getting ready to leave."

* * *

Danielle, Wulf and Youngblood charged at the Dark One. Danielle was the first to attack, she released a large plasma ray from her hand and the attack should have hit directly. Her eyes widened when the attack went through the enemy. The Dark One didn't go intangible or anything.

Wulf was next to reach him. When he was about ten feet away, he slashed down and cut an opening into some other dimension. Wulf jumped inside and closed the opening. Then, from behind the Dark One, Wulf appeared once more, having cut through dimensions once again. He slashed the enemy with his claws, but just like Danielle's attack, it had no effect whatsoever. Wulf quickly backed several feet away from the enemy, just as surprised as Danielle because of his failed attack.

Youngblood narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on his sword, "let's see if this affects him!" He ran forward, releasing a battle cry as he brought his sword up and swung it.

The Dark One made no effort to move, and had no reason to because the sword also did nothing.

"What the hell is this thing!" Youngblood grit his teeth, swinging once more.

"Youngblood! Get away!" Danielle cried out to him.

The transparent, smoke-like hand of the Dark One snapped forward like a snake and wrapped it's fingers around Youngblood's neck.

"W-what…is…this!" Youngblood choked, dropping his sword and swinging his arms at the hand that gripped his throat. He couldn't touch the Dark One at all.

Danielle began to run toward them, "it can touch us but we can't touch _it_!" She growled. "Come on!" She stopped when she was a few feet from them and began to fire ectoplasmic beams, "something has to hurt it!"

Youngblood could feel the Dark One's grip tightening on his throat with each second. He tried to go intangible to escape its grip, but even that ability was useless.

"Damn it!" Danielle stopped firing and went up to Youngblood, grabbing onto his arm and attempted to pull him away from the ghost. The Dark One had a strong grip on Youngblood and wasn't willing to let go that easily.

Wulf snarled dangerously, swiping viciously from behind.

Danielle narrowed her eyes, "I have an idea! Wulf, stand back!"

Wulf obeyed and got out of the way while Danielle filled her hand with ice energy.

_I never did master how to use my ice abilities. But there's no choice! _She thrust her arm forward, releasing a beam of iced ectoplasm.

The beam struck the ghost on the arm that held Youngblood. Danielle's eyes widened when she saw the ice close around the ghost creature's arm, freezing that part of his limb. Danielle acted quickly and kicked the iced arm.

Glittering ice shattered everywhere and the Dark One let out a high pitched wail as it's arm was destroyed. Youngblood dropped to his knees, breathing in and out heavily. "H-How'd you know to do that!"

"I didn't know that it would work." Danielle chuckled, "but I thought it was worth a try. So, it looks like this thing isn't invincible after all."

Wulf let out a grunt-like growl. He said a few things in his language and Youngblood translated for him, "Wulf says he can sense that the ghost is angry. He thinks that it's going to do something else. So be alert."

"Well, as long as I can freeze it, then we'll be fine!" Danielle grinned.

"Yeah, those ice powers are handy!"

The Dark One moved forward a slight bit.

Danielle brought her arms up, ready to ice the enemy once more. Before she could even see what was happening, the Dark One morphed into a large mass of smoke with no form at all, then it shot forward at an incredible speed.

Danielle's eyes widened and she fell backward. She could no longer see the ghost. Her hands went up and clutched the sides of her head. "W-What the!" she inhaled deeply, feeling like her body was overflowing. Everything was spinning, causing an instant headache. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out.

"Danielle!" Youngblood dropped to his knees beside her, "What happened! Where did…" his eyes grew twice in size when his question was answered. Danielle's eyes began to glow a bright red.

"_You're a nuisance._" Danielle aimed her palm at Youngblood and a plasma ray struck him in the stomach, sending him flying backward.

Wulf howled and came forward, stepping in front of Youngblood to protect him from being attacked by Danielle again.

"Y-you overshadowed her!" Youngblood shakily stood up, "you bastard! Let her go!"

"_Give it up. You aren't willing to attack your own friend, are you?_"Danielle laughed maniacally. "_Ah, it's nice to be in a body, to finally be able to speak as I wish._" She chuckled once more, "_It's over for you and everyone else that opposes our leader!_"

Youngblood looked into Wulf's eyes, "what do you want to do? If we retreat, we'll be leaving Danielle in this guy's hands, and if we fight, we'll end up hurting her."

Wulf replied in Esperanto, "we'll save her. We'll defeat him without hurting Danielle."

Youngblood shook his head, "that's easier said than done." He smiled, "but we'll have to do it. Just hang in there, Danielle."

* * *

Danny sat cross-legged on the carpet in the living room, in front of him was the large picture album that held so many memories. He observed each picture thoroughly, even though he had memorized every single photo in there already. He smiled to himself, eagerly wanting his memories back.

"Danny, are you all packed?" Valerie walked up to him, wearing her red suit covered with weapons.

"You know we're not leaving right this instant." Danny informed her.

She shrugged, "can never be too careful." She sat down next to him, looking at the pictures in front of him, "are you ready to go? I mean…are you still willing to go back to Zanar?"

Danny turned to look directly into her eyes, "of course I am." He smiled slightly. "Hey, check this out!" He held his hand out in front of him, palm up with his fingers slightly curled in like he was holding something. A blue ball of energy formed in his hand and in just a few seconds, it took the shape of a small, ice crystal. He grinned at his success, "I've gotten better at controlling my powers. Hopefully they will be useful."

Valerie brightly grinned at her friend, "you'll do great." She patted him on the shoulder, "come on! Get up and get ready! Everybody is already packing up to go, so you might as well do the same."

Danny looked down and bit his lip, "how can you be so calm about this? Aren't you scared? This isn't just some group of amateurs like the Guys in White! This is a professional group of assassins!"

Valerie thought for a moment, "in times like this, I just think of all the times in the past that we've gone up against the impossible and were victorious! As long as I have my friends there with me, I believe that we can win." She lightly punched him in the shoulder, "we'll be there to back you up, no matter what." Valerie stood up and walked out of the living room, leaving Danny there.

Sighing, the teen closed the photo album and brought himself to his feet. "Thanks." He said to his friends, even though they weren't in the room to hear it.

* * *

Sam held a dark green bag in one hand and carefully began to load equipment from the lab into said bag. She let out a terrified gasp when a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind. "Jeez, don't scare me like that." She exhaled deeply.

Danny pulled Sam close to him, she still faced away from him, and he rested his head down onto her shoulder lovingly. "Sorry." He quickly apologized.

"Is something wrong?" Sam put the bag down onto the table and turned her head a bit to look at him with the corner of her eye.

He shook his head. "Well, I just thought that…that I'd have more time to spend with all of you before this happened."

"Danny, nothing will happen to us. We'll all come back safe and sound, alright?"

"I wish that could be more reassuring for me…you can't _know_ for sure that we'll all be okay."

Sam sighed and turned around 180 degrees to face Danny, "you're right. I don't _know_ that we'll all make it. Promises can't always be kept. That's just a fact…but in my heart, if I keep telling myself that we'll all make it back, it makes everything seem alright. Don't keep thinking about the bad outcomes. Okay?" She leaned forward and kissed Danny on the lips.

There was a moment pause and Sam began to speak again, "Danny, why do you have this with you?" She pointed at the gun that was strapped to his side. "Is that your Zanar gun?"

Danny pulled the gun out of it's holder and held it up to eye level, "no, it's not a Zanar gun." On the side, where it previously had the markings to show it belonged to Zanar, it now had been replaced with the symbol that Sam was all too familiar with; The white DP that was also seen on the front of Danny's ghost outfit.

Sam chuckled, "it looks awesome."

* * *

"Hey, dude, can you help me carry this?" Tucker leaned backward, his legs bent and struggling to keep himself standing while holding onto a large brown box.

Danny nodded and put down the equipment he held in his hands to run over to Tucker.

The basement was now nearly empty after their group had packed nearly everything of use into the Specter Speeder. Sam and Valerie were currently elsewhere, and Danny wasn't quite sure what they were doing.

Danny grabbed onto the box and picked it up easily from Tucker's hands, "you okay?" He held the box as though it were weightless.

"Dude, that is totally no fair. How the hell did you get so strong!" Tucker gave him a jokingly annoyed face.

"I'm just naturally that cool." Danny grinned at his friend, "where do you want this?"

"I need to just put it in the Speeder, it's my computer, so…please be careful with it!" Tucker begged, afraid that his precious technology would be damaged.

Danny set the box down quickly and straightened up, "hey listen, I already talked to Sam and Valerie…but I wanted to make sure that you were really okay about going to Zanar, it's fine if you don't want to go."

Tucker sighed, "Dude, don't doubt us so much! We'll stick with you no matter what! We want you to get your memories back too! You're not in this alone." He smiled, "we'll definitely kick their ass!"

Danny laughed, "Thanks. I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay with this. But... all of you had the same answer." He picked up the box once more, "alright, let's finish packing!"

* * *

That night, Sam sat up in bed, her eyes half open and still adjusting. It took her several seconds to realize something was missing. She looked over to the other side of the bed and it was empty. Sam grabbed the edge of the blanket and tossed the blanket off of her body before standing up and quickly stretched. She rubbed her eyes and walked out of the room and made her way down the stairs to the living room.

Sure enough, Danny was there. He sat on the couch, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his face resting in the palms of his hands.

"Can't sleep?" Sam walked up to Danny and sat down next to him, placing her hand on his back.

"There's so many things going on in my mind. I'm worried about facing my Master, I'm worried about facing Z-1, I'm worried that we won't be able to find my memories there or that one of you will get hurt. I'm also worried about Danielle. We haven't heard from her yet. I'm worried that my powers will act up on me and I won't be able to control them…I'm just…"

"Hey, just calm down," Sam soothingly whispered, "if you keep getting worried about all of this you'll have a panic attack." Sam yawned, "and if you don't get any sleep then you'll be exhausted tomorrow."

Danny chuckled, "that's true too. At Zanar though, during some of my training, we learned how to force our bodies to function with little to no sleep. I've been able to stay awake for four days in a row. Of course, my body was exhausted after so long and I couldn't do as well, but I managed."

Sam's eyes widened, "Dang, they really push everyone to their limits over there."

"You don't know the half of it." Danny brought his arm up and wrapped it around Sam. "Thanks for always being there for me." Danny turned a shade of pink and continued, "I love you, Sam. I know I don't say that enough. But I really do."

Sam leaned against Danny's body, her head resting on his shoulder, "I know. I love you, too."

* * *

_Flashback_

"Come on! Put more energy into it!" The large, muscled man standing at about 6 foot 5 towered over the younger ones, barking viciously for them to work harder. "You think you can last even five minutes out there like this! Pathetic!" The large man was commonly known as being the combat teacher, his name was Rhett.

Danny dropped to his hands and knees, sweat freely dripped from his face and drenched his clothes. His body was at its limit. He heaved and vomited onto the floor. His throat tightened painfully from it. After his stomach was relieved of the food, Danny continued to gasp for breath.

Rhett walked over to Danny, everyone training in the room stepped out of the man's way to let him through. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" The man demanded to know. "Did I say you could take a break, boy!"

"No, sir." Danny responded, keeping his face pointed down to the floor.

"Then get off your ass and keep working!"

Danny squeezed his eyes shut, blinking the tears out of the way before bringing his leg up and shakily brought himself into a stand.

"You're that kid that Z-2 is taking care of, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir." Danny replied.

"You think I'll let some weak boy mess up his reputation! If you look bad, it makes him look bad! So you better shape up, boy!"

"My apologies, sir."

Everyone's eyes were on Danny, each of them thinking the same thing. They thought to themselves that he was too submissive, always accepting insults and orders, always doing what he was told; it was sickening to them.

"Think you're a tough guy?"

Danny looked up at the man for a moment, "I'm not sure, sir."

"Well if you're not sure, then that means you're not a tough guy! We'll make you a tough guy!" Rhett dropped into a fighting stance in front of Danny, "come on, boy, let's see how well you do."

All of the others around them backed up several feet, creating somewhat of a circle around the two of them, each of them interested in what Danny would do. It was obvious to them that Danny couldn't defeat this man.

Danny didn't hesitate, he also dropped into a fighting stance, his eyes narrowed and focused on his opponent.

For several moments, the two of them stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move first. Danny's body was trembling slightly, still overly fatigued from practicing for hours on end. Danny finally made the first move, he lunged forward, swinging his body around 360 degrees, bringing his leg up for a kick.

Rhett caught Danny's foot in his hand and instantly twisted the teen's leg, forcing Danny to lose his balance and crash to the floor. Pain pulsed through his leg. Danny grit his teeth and jumped up off the floor.

"Still ready for more, are you?" The man chuckled.

Danny could see that this man was playing with him. But he didn't complain. "I am still able to fight." Danny calmly answered.

"I like the spirit, kid." This time, Rhett was the one that attacked.

Danny's eyes widened, he couldn't even see Rhett move, but he sure felt it. The man's heel collided with Danny's jaw, forcing Danny back to the floor once more, this time the force was much greater. The impact from the floor alone was painful, but the agony radiating through his jaw was unbearable. _I'm still able to fight._ Danny let out a pained moan as he pushed himself up to all fours and proceeded to face the man once again. _I can do better than this. I can become stronger. _

Whispers could be heard all over the room. "How is he still standing?" "This guy is crazy!" "He'll die if he keeps this up."

"If you're trying to hurt me to the point that I can no longer fight, you'll have to do more damage than that, sir." Danny wasn't trying to be cheeky or rude, he was just stating a fact. However, the teacher seemed to take it as a rude comment.

"Let's see how long you can stay standing, boy!" Rhett lunged forward.

Once again, Danny couldn't read this man's movements whatsoever. Then, his brain lit up with an idea.

Specs of blood and spit came flying from Danny's mouth the moment he was punched in the stomach. He could hear and feel the crunching of his ribs in his chest. Despite the immense pain, Danny forced himself to follow up with his plan. He could feel his body begin to go backward from the force of the hit and at that moment, he brought his arms forward and grabbed Rhett's arm with his hands. Using all of the strength he could muster, Danny gripped the man's arm and rotated his own body to redirect the force of the blow.

He brought Rhett off of his feet for a moment and swung him downward. Rhett slammed onto the floor on his back with a loud bang. In a split second, Danny positioned himself on top of his teacher and grabbed the man's gun that was strapped to his side. Before anyone could even register what was happening, the gun was loaded and pointed down at Rhett's throat.

Absolute silence. No one spoke. Hell, nobody in the crowd of people was even breathing! Every person was wide eyed with disbelief. The only sound heard was Danny's intense panting.

"I'm sorry, sir." Danny gasped an apology, "I win."

A slow, steady clap was heard in the back. Eyes turned to see who the person was that was clapping by themselves.

Charles, also known as Z-2 as well as Danny's master, leaned against the wall comfortably, he clapped a few more times before straightening up and walking forward to where Danny and Rhett were.

"Z-2!" Rhett gasped. "I didn't realize you were here!"

"I have ways of hiding." Charles smirked. "It looks like you're having fun with my boy."

Danny didn't look up at his master, his eyes remained on his teacher and the gun still remained in his hand. He refused to take his eyes off of what he considered to be an enemy of any sort.

"That was nicely played out, kid." Charles smiled, "I thought for sure I was going to have to take you to the nurse."

Rhett was still lying on his back with a gun pointed at him. "Get the hell off me, boy!" He pushed the gun away and then shoved Danny off of him. When Rhett shoved Danny however, he managed to hit Danny in the ribs.

Danny dropped the gun in his hand and rolled over on the floor, his arms wrapped around his stomach and his face twisted with agony. _Damn it! _Danny gasped for breath, but each breath sent new waves of pain coursing through his body. The next moment, he felt himself lifted off the ground. The teen looked up slowly to see the face of his master.

"Next time, you should try to take it a bit easier on newcomers. Don't expect them to be perfect the day they show up." Although Charles said it with a smile, the dangerous threat was woven between his words saying _if you hurt him like this again, I'll kill you. _

Charles left the room, carrying his apprentice along with him gently.

"I'm sorry, master." Danny spoke softly.

"Why's that? You didn't do anything wrong. You have only been here for a few months, he shouldn't try to push you so hard in such a little amount of time." Charles chuckled, "but you really surprised me back there, kid! You managed to stay standing against him and were able to think of a plan to defeat him in the middle of the fight! You're one interesting kid, you know that?"

Danny didn't seem to react or respond in any way to Charles's compliment. "Master, why are you carrying me?"

"You're hurt, we need to have to checked out by one of the doctors. I know that sometimes injuries are impossible to avoid, but try your best to keep it to a minimum at least. Okay? I can't have you dyin' on me!"

Danny nodded. _I have to get stronger. I have to. For Master. For Zanar. I will get stronger no matter what._

* * *

_Present Time_

"Alright, let's go, let's go!" Tucker called to the other three, he sat in the driver's seat of the Specter Speeder, the engine already roaring and pulsing.

Valerie was the first to come out of Fenton Works and jumped into one of the seats. Following her from the house was Sam and Danny.

Danny stopped midway to the Speeder and turned around to look at the house and then look up at the sign at the top of their house. "We'll definitely come back." He said to himself. A sinking feeling in his chest made him disbelieve his own words.

Sam and him both sat in the remaining seats.

"Everyone buckled?" Tucker asked with a grin.

"Just drive, Tucker!" Sam barked with a chuckle.

"Hey, Danny," Tucker said, "I'll drive it outside of the city, after that you can put the coordinates of Zanar into the Specter Speeder and it will get us there automatically."

Danny nodded, "sounds good." Danny leaned back and closed his eyes while Tucker brought the Specter Speeder into the air. "I'm comin' back…" he placed his hand lightly on the gun strapped to his side.

* * *

Alexander, also known as Z-1, sat at his desk patiently when a man walked into his office, "sir, we just got news from our team that Z-3 and his friends have just left their home and seem to be on their way here."

"Thank you." Alexander replied, and with that, the man left the room, leaving the leader of Zanar alone once more.

Alexander grinned widely, "it's about damn time. You had me waiting a while, Z-3. I hope you enjoyed the time you spent with your friends," he laughed, "because you won't leave this place alive, none of you will."

* * *

**A/N: Long chapter to make up for my absence! School has started and things are pretty busy for me. I sincerely apologize to all of my readers! Thank you all so much for your reviews and support! I'll update the next chapter as soon as I get a chance!**


	16. Start

Shattered Tears

Chapter 16: Start

**Quick Recap: Danny, Sam, Tucker and Valerie are headed to Zanar Headquarters for a final battle. Danny hopes to get his memories back, which are held there, while Alexander (the leader of Zanar, aka Z1) wants to kill Danny and his friends.**

**And in the Ghost Zone, Danielle, Wulf and Young Blood (older, good-looking Young Blood) face the 'Dark One' and Danielle is overshadowed by it.**

The Specter Speeder was brought down from the sky, landing softly in a small open area in the forest. "Are we really there?" Tucker asked.

Danny shook his head, "no, it's a few miles away, but it's best to leave our stuff here and walk the rest of the way. If we get too close in this thing, they'll shoot us down immediately."

"We have a cloaking device built in that can turn the Specter Speeder invisible." Tucker offered, "so they won't be able to see us."

Danny looked at Tucker for a few moments, "really, Tuck'? Did you forget who these people were? I'm willing to bet anything they already know we're here and they're watching us right now. Actually, scratch that, I _know_ that there are people watching us right now. Four to be exact. They're not very powerful though."

Sam held up her gun and loaded it loudly, "then let's go get them!"

"Whoa, whoa!" Danny held up his hands, "we can't fight them just yet! There isn't any invading happening here. Right now all we have to do is walk up to Zanar and talk to Z-1. _After _that is when things will get messy."

Valerie narrowed her eyes, "I don't like that idea. I say we just attack now."

"No!" Danny barked, "We're going to do this the right way! Okay? Don't do anything reckless!" Danny was the first to stand up and open the door to exit the Specter Speeder. He glared into the distance in several different places, letting the people watching them know to keep away, also letting them know that _he_ knew where they were.

The rest of the group followed Danny out of the vehicle, each of them carrying their necessary items.

Valerie wore her red huntress suit and had a large belt around the outside of the suit on her waist, along the belt was a variety of useful weapons. Across her shoulders was a strap of ammo for the guns that were attached to her belt. She also carried several knives which were hidden beneath her suit.

Sam's outfit was nearly identical to Valerie's, however, Sam's was black rather than red. Even the weapons she carried were similar. Danny had to admit that she looked pretty hot wearing that outfit.

Tucker on the other hand didn't wear much other than his usual outfit. He did have a bullet-proof vest, but that was about it. Rather than carrying weapons, he had a lot of technology around him. All for monitoring the area and being able to see what was happening. Attached to each of them was a small device that monitored the team's heart rate, breathing, etc, and each of them also wore a headset to communicate with each other. Tucker was in charge of making sure all of their devices worked smoothly.

Danny had the least amount of weapons. In fact, he only had his gun -previously Zanar gun- and a few knives hidden within his clothes. He wore no bullet-proof vest or anything to protect him from oncoming attacks.

"You guys have everything?" Danny asked. When each of them nodded, Danny let out a loud whistle.

"What was that-" Sam's question was answered when four people emerged from the trees surrounding them. "Why are you calling them?"

"It's their job to escort us to Zanar. If we attack them, it will be an instant war. That's why none of you are allowed to attack yet." Danny looked at all four of the men that came forward, he recognized each of them but never had gotten to know them personally.

When the men were within five feet, one of them spoke up, "we've been expecting you. Please, follow us. Our master wishes to speak with you."

Danny nodded, "Thank you."

==0==0==0==

Sam, Tucker and Valerie all became wide eyed the moment they saw the Zanar building. Standing at about twenty stories, it towered over all the trees nearby. It's pale gray stone outsides kept a strong and bold structure.

Their four guides all turned around sharply as they approached the building. Danny stopped as fast as they did, as though expecting them to turn around at that exact time. Sam, Tucker and Valerie all slowed to a halt as well.

"Our master will speak only to Z-3." One of the men stated.

"Whoa, whoa!" Sam took a step forward, "we're all sticking together here! You're not allowed to just take Danny!"

"Sam, it's okay." Danny smiled at her, "I'm just going to go in there to talk to him for a bit. I'll be back out here in no time."

"Danny, I don't trust these guys either," Valerie whispered to Danny, "what if they just decide to attack you while we're separated!"

Danny shook his head, "they won't do that, trust me. A fight is different than assassination, and a fight is what we came here for. Zanar may be many things, but dishonesty isn't like them."

Tucker sat down on the ground and placed two of his cases down in front of them, opening them carefully to reveal two laptops, each of which was already working. "I'll be able to see what you're doing from this, okay? I can tell how far you are, your heart rate, your breathing, and your ectoenergy levels. If anything goes wrong, I'll know." He looked up at the girls, "and if it comes to that, then we'll go after him, okay?"

Sam put her hands on her hips, "you're siding with him!"

"It's not that, I just don't think there's any point in arguing about this. I think we should listen to what Danny says. He knows this place and these people better than us." Tucker looked at them, remaining silent for a few moments.

Valerie sighed, "fine. But if _anything _goes wrong," she pointed at Danny fiercely.

"I said I would be back out in a few minutes! Z-1 and I will just have a quick chat." Danny turned to their escorts, "let's go."

The four men nodded, spinning around once more and began to walk toward the entrance of the building. Danny followed closely behind them.

Hallway after hallway, Danny followed the men even though he could have gotten to Alexander (Z-1)'s on his own. Danny kept his eyes down on the ground, avoiding all eye contact with the others that roamed around in the building. Just about every one of them stopped what they were doing and fell completely silent, staring directly at him with disgust.

_That's right…_Danny thought to himself, _I'm a traitor. It's not wonder that they'd look at me like that. If I were in their position, I would feel the same way. _

None of them spoke up against Danny to insult him or attack him. Danny assumed it was because they knew they couldn't possibly win in a fight against him, or they had all been told not to attack him.

Finally, they reached their destination. The guards all lined up on either side of the door, Danny stepped forward and knocked.

"Come in."

Danny pushed the doors open and stepped inside of Alexander's office, closing the doors behind him. He stared ahead, looking into the eyes of the leader of Zanar. Alexander casually sat at his desk, leaning back in his chair comfortably.

"It's nice to see you again, Z-3." Alexander smiled like a devious rat.

"I wish I could say the same for you."

"So cold." Alexander smirked, "last time you were in my office you had a much different attitude."

Danny marched forward fiercely until he stood at the other end of Alexander's desk. "Let's just get on with our chat, shall we?"

Alexander sat up straight, leaning forward a bit, "Eager, are we? Very well. You know what my goal is and that is to erase you and your friends from the face of the earth. And I'm aware that you want your memories back, correct?"

"What are my memories to you anyway! It's not like you can do anything with them! So it seems reasonable that I get back what's mine!"

"Yes, that does seem reasonable. However, you betrayed Zanar, so it's only reasonable that you suffer the consequences, isn't that right?"

Danny bit his lip and brought his fist up, slamming it back down onto the desk. The small objects on the desk jumped a bit before shakily landing. "I didn't ask to join Zanar! You're the one that chose for me! Why did you do it anyway!"

At this, Alexander thought for a moment, "I saw potential in you. I saw strength and power beyond the norm and I wanted to have that power on my side. Every team wants the strongest players, and you are one that I felt I needed. However, much to my disappointment, you were a ticking bomb that was ready to blow any moment, which is why the Guys in White had to take care of your powers. It was my idea to take your memories, I knew that I could build you up to be strong. By getting rid of your past, you could start fresh and learn everything there is to know about Zanar and eventually become the leader of this organization!"

"So, you're telling me that this was all for _you_! All of the shit you put me through was for your own benefit!" Danny pointed his index finger at Alexander threateningly, "I will _never _work for a cold-hearted bastard like you! So you can forget about it!"

"Ah, pity. And here I thought we could come to an agreement. Well. Let's talk more about our upcoming showdown." Alexander leaned back against his chair.

"Our goal is to defeat Zanar, in other words, to defeat the leader, which is _you_." Danny stated, "and by doing so, we can take my memories back and get out of here. _If _we do manage to defeat you, you will give your word to never lay a hand on my friends or me ever again!"

"Hm," Alexander pursed his lips, mockingly pondering Danny's words. "Very well, if you manage to somehow defeat me then I will give my word. Now, as I mentioned, Zanar has only one goal, and that is to destroy your group completely. We will not take prisoners and consider that a win; we will kill whoever we catch, understand?"

Danny slowly nodded, knowing that he was being serious. Alexander had no plans of letting him and his friends leave.

"Very good." Alexander stood up from his chair, "we will begin at midnight, no sooner no later. Use whatever tactics you wish, just know that my side will also do whatever it takes to win. Zanar members won't go down easily." He grinned.

Danny chuckled, "my friends have more determination and more heart than all of Zanar put together. We won't give up. And we _don't_ plan on losing." He grinned proudly before turning to leave Alexander's room.

==0==0==0==

Sam's head snapped up the moment she saw movement, "Danny!" She beamed, taking a few steps forward toward him, "how did it go?"

"Come on, we're leaving for now." Danny barely looked into her eyes, he walked past her with his eyes set forward. "Val, Tuck', come on." He said to the other two. "We'll head off to a clearing to have as our base." He spoke calmly and quietly, "we only have a few hours." Danny looked up at the darkening sky.

For at least ten minutes, the four of them walked through the endless trees. Sam, Tucker and Valerie all stumbled and tripped on the rocks and roots that reached up from the dirt. Danny seemed to skillfully avoid all of the obstacles that threatened to trip him. It was times like these that Sam could see the difference between this Danny and the one from five years ago. To her though, he was the same Danny as before only now he had a few more skills.

"This should be a good place." Danny stopped, "nobody followed us. Now," he turned to face the others, his eyes narrowed, "when this happens, I want you all to know something, I don't care what the circumstance is, I do _not _want any of you to die here! If the situation is something you can't handle, I want you to run or ask another to come help! Don't take matters into your own hands! Don't fight unless you have to! Always be the first to shoot. They're goal is to kill us; they won't be taking prisoners! Just remember that!"

He took a moment to breathe before continuing, "I know we're here to get my memories back, and it means a lot to me…but I don't want any of you to risk your life in order to make that happen. The only reason I let you guys come with me is because I trust you all to stay alive! "

All of them nodded in understanding.

"Our battle with Zanar beings at midnight exactly. If we need a place to meet up, it'll be here, alright?" Danny leaned his back against a tree, "everyone should rest a bit until midnight. We need all the energy we can get."

Valerie sighed and sat down where she was standing, "good idea."

Tucker walked a few feet and sat down in a small grass spot at the base of a tree then opened his laptop.

Sam walked up to Danny and wrapped her arms around his torso, "I love you." It's all she needed to say to him for encouragement. "Don't forget it."

Danny pulled her closer, her head rested against his chest. He could faintly smell her shampoo scented hair, he could feel her heart beating in her body, and her slow breathing that moved her torso ever so slightly. "I love you."

==0==0==0==

_Almost…it's almost time…_

The light of the moon lit up the area just enough to see, but the darkness still dominated over eyesight.

His heart beat faster in his chest.

_Just about…_

Fingers twitching with anticipation and teeth grinding with worry. Danny crouched atop a tree located on the west side of the building. Plenty of leaves covered him up from where he was, making it nearly impossible to spot him, especially at this time of night.

_Now!_

Midnight.

"GO!" Danny sprung from his feet, diving out of the tree and rocketing straight forward in the air.

"Alright!" Valerie smiled and kicked her hover-board to life. The engine roared and she sped forward. She could see Danny from her area, but he was quite far away. Valerie eagerly pulled two guns from her belt.

"Let's go!" Sam also came out from the woods on her hover-board, her black suit shaped the same as Valerie's, tightly covering her body. A strap crossed over her shoulder and attached to it was a two-handed gun.

Tucker remained in his hiding spot, sitting cross-legged on the ground, and resting on his legs was his laptop. "You have several guys coming from the building." He said into the headset, "About ten of them. There's more inside, but they haven't moved yet."

"I see them." Sam replied, "they don't look too strong." She steered her V-shaped hover-board down to the ground, going at least a hundred miles per hour.

"Don't underestimate anyone." Danny calmly reminded Sam.

"I know." Sam brought her board up at the last moment. Now she was only about five inches up off the ground, but her speed didn't change. She kept herself steady while grabbing a hold of the gun strapped to her. Sam narrowed her eyes. The person ahead of her by at least a hundred feet began to fire repeatedly. She swerved back and forth to dodge the bullets. Sam loaded the gun with a loud click and fired low.

The man firing at her dropped to the ground with a pained shriek. Sam had made sure to aim low enough that she wouldn't hit any of his organs and was successful. He was only hit in the thigh. Sam reloaded her gun again and fired at the next opponent.

Danny remained high in the air, making himself a bit of an easier target to shoot at, "Come on," Danny muttered, "we don't have time to deal with these guys."

Five shots rang around them. Danny stayed where he was, knowing that the bullets were aimed toward him. He brought his arms straight out and pushed the ectoenergy from his body around him, creating a shield like a bubble. The bullets collided with the shield and immediately bounced back, as though being reversed in direction. The five men who had shot at Danny were soon hit by their own bullets that had bounced off of his shield.

"Guys," Danny said into the headset, "we need to get in the building before they have a chance to shut us off outside. Do you guy think you can get past them?"

Valerie fired a few more shots from her weapons and then took a brief moment to look at the building, "no, I don't see any on this side."

Sam raised her head to look up at all the windows, "I don't see any openings over here."

"I'm pretty close to Sam right now, and I don't see any possible ways from here. Not to mention there's just hundreds of them waiting inside!" Tucker replied.

Danny bit his lip, "Damn it. Okay, here's what we're going to do…"

==0==0==0==

"Y-you overshadowed her!" Youngblood shakily stood up, "you bastard! Let her go!"

"Give it up. You aren't willing to attack your own friend, are you?" Danielle laughed maniacally. "Ah, it's nice to be in a body, to finally be able to speak as I wish." She chuckled once more, "It's over for you and everyone else that opposes our leader!"

Youngblood looked into Wulf's eyes, "what do you want to do? If we retreat, we'll be leaving Danielle in this guy's hands, and if we fight, we'll end up hurting her."

Wulf replied in Esperanto, "we'll save her. We'll defeat him without hurting Danielle."

Youngblood shook his head, "that's easier said than done." He smiled, "but we'll have to do it. Just hang in there, Danielle."

Wulf howled loudly and charged forward, baring his teeth with a snarl.

"Fools." Danielle charged her palm with sparking green energy, "None of you will leave here alive!" She lunged forward to meet Wulf, raising her hand and thrusting it forward with incredible strength.

Wulf reared back, placing a clawed paw over his chest where his flesh burned from the attack. "If I could get close enough, I might be able to open a dimension between the two of them and force him to leave her body." Wulf explained to Youngblood in Esperanto, "but it would be very difficult, not to mention it's nearly impossible to get close to him!" He growled with anger.

"Yeah," Youngblood replied, "we need to think of a better plan."

"It seems you don't understand the situation here. Not only do I have my own powers, I can control this girl's powers as well!" Danielle brought one foot back for better balance and leaned her head back the slightest bit while she inhaled deeply.

"Shit! Get back!" Youngblood cried, turning and jumping into flight. He knew what this power was.

Danielle's upper body leaned forward as she released the ghostly wail built up in her body.

Youngblood quickly fell, bringing his hands up to cover his ears. He grit his teeth from the pain splitting through his head. Wulf was just as unlucky and wasn't able to get away from the attack fast enough. He wailed and whimpered and his hair stood on end as the wail dragged on.

Finally, the sound ceased and Danielle dropped to her knees. "_What!_" The voice from Danielle's mouth barked with anger, "Already she has lost her ectoenergy! How pathetic."

Youngblood brought himself up into a stand. He could hardly hear anything, his ears still rang painfully. "You bastard! You could've killed her by using that! Her body can't handle a ghostly wail! Don't use her powers so carelessly!" He remembered Danielle attempting to use a ghostly wail a few years ago and it had drained her energy almost instantly as well as physically damage her body.

"Ah. This child is weaker than I thought. I don't know why my master is so interested in having her." Danielle shrugged with a sigh.

Youngblood narrowed his eyes, "Are you talking about Vlad Masters!" _Vlad is the bastard that created Danielle and it seems likely that he would have an 'interest' in her. _Youngblood grit his teeth, _I won't let that bastard have her. Most likely he would just want her for more stupid experiments of his!_

Danielle barked a laugh, "Has it really taken you this long to figure it out?"

"We've had our suspicions for a while, but it seems like you just confirmed it." Youngblood looked over at Wulf, "Are you alright, Wulf?"

Wulf shakily stood on four legs, "I'll be fine," he replied in his native tongue, "that attack really did some damage though."

"Wulf, we need to help Danielle before this Dark One does any more damage to her body." He spoke quietly so that only his comrade could hear him speak, "here's what we'll-" Youngblood's eyes grew wide and his mouth gaped open, ectoplasm specks flew from his mouth and slowly, the ectoplasm gathered around his tongue and dripped out and down his chin. He looked down at his body and saw a large, glowing pink rod sticking out from his stomach. The radius of the rod was at least an inch, but felt much worse.

The rod stuck out from both his stomach and his back. Green ectoplasm soaked his clothes around the rod and trailed downward. Youngblood dropped to his knees, feeling the rod move and tear more of his flesh even from just that slight motion.

Wulf released a raging howl of fury at the sight of his friend.

Youngblood couldn't speak. His eyes remained wide, captured in the shock of the situation.

Wulf stepped in front of Youngblood to protect him from any other attacks. Saliva dripped from his snarling mouth. He looked at the newcomer that had thrown the pink rod.

"I don't believe we've had the opportunity to meet," the man floated next to the possessed Danielle, wearing a full white outfit, "I'm Vlad Plasmius." He widely grinned, showing his fangs that stood out against his blue skin. His hair spiked up on either side of his head in the shape of devil horns. "I do remember Youngblood though. An annoying child, I must say, however he looks like he's grown." Vlad chuckled, "although I doubt that matters now, he doesn't have much longer before his body _dies_, so to speak."

Danielle dropped down to one knee, bringing her head low in a bow, "Master, you didn't have to come, I could have taken take of these three myself."

"Don't worry," Vlad smiled darkly, "it's more fun this way. Also, I can't have you destroying my young daughter's body, now can I?"

Danielle brought her head down even further with shame, "my apologies, master."

"Go back to Base. I'll bring these two. They could have some valuable information."

Wulf roared and lunged forward to attack Vlad, "you won't get away with this!"

"So impatient." Vlad dully replied.

The next thing Wulf knew, his body was overcome with a deep sinking feeling. He didn't know what sort of attack or power Vlad had used, but whatever it was, it forced Wulf to close his eyes and fall unconscious.

==0==0==0==

Danielle could see everything. She could see it all, yet she couldn't do anything. Her body wouldn't respond to her thoughts at all, she was completely controlled by the Dark One. She watched as Youngblood hunched over with ectoplasm spilling from his wound and as Wulf was brought to unconsciousness with a strange pink-electric shock. Tears welled up in her eyes, "Stop this! Help Youngblood! He'll die! Wulf! Wake up, Wulf!" She sobbed freely, "Damn it!"

"_Shut up, you pathetic girl!_" a voice barked at her, echoing within her mind.

"You can hear me?" Danielle asked quietly.

"_I'm in your mind, I can hear your thoughts. It's useless to try and escape, you're in my control._" The Dark One chuckled.

Danielle felt her heart ache in her chest, feeling failure weigh down upon her shoulders.

==0==0==0==

Danielle, or rather, the Dark One controlling her, stood up on two feet. She obeyed Vlad's order and flew away without another word, leaving Wulf and Youngblood with Vlad.

Vlad turned to face the two injured ghosts and walked up to Youngblood, who still bled from where the rod had struck through him. "Are you still conscious, boy?"

Youngblood wheezed and moaned with agony, his body lurched forward and ectoplasm spurted from his mouth. He coughed viciously. "I…won't let you hurt her…" he snarled and looked up, glaring at Vlad.

Vlad narrowed his eyes, "I've seen that look before, those are the same eyes I've seen on Daniel so many times before. That courageous yet foolish look." He snapped his fingers with realization, "ah, could it be that you have feelings for Danielle?"

Youngblood didn't reply; his eyes squinted fiercely and he ground his teeth together.

"Oh, this is just wonderful! Now things have become much more interesting."

"I'll kill you…" Youngblood threatened hollowly, "Vlad Plasmius! For everything you've done!" He began to push himself to stand up, but immediately dropped once again.

Vlad smirked and brought himself down to one knee in front of Youngblood, "People like you make things much more fun for me. Seeing you worms squirm in place and try to make a difference is just fascinating." He reached forward and wrapped his fingers around the end of the pink rod that had pierced through Youngblood.

The young boy's eyes widened and the next moment, Vlad yanked the rod out completely. The movement of the pull sent vicious waves of agony through Youngblood's entire body. He had managed to hold himself on his knees before, but now he just dropped completely vertical with the platform beneath him.

Vlad grabbed a fist full of Youngblood's green hair and pulled his head up to eye level.

"A ghost…won't die…from just that!" Youngblood inhaled and exhaled sharply, his eyes piercing hatefully at his enemy.

"I'm aware of that. It would be no fun if you died now." Vlad sent several volts of electricity through Youngblood's body. With the boy already on the verge of passing out, he wasn't able to keep his eyes open any longer after that. Youngblood's eyes fluttered shut and his body went limp.

==0==0==0==

"I've been meaning to try this!" Danny closed his eyes tightly.

"Danny? What're you doing?" Sam asked into the headset. "Don't use your powers too much, you still haven't mastered them!" She tossed the large gun aside and reached to her belt to pull out a handgun, immediately firing at the oncoming attackers.

"What the hell, dude!" Tucker barked, looking at his computer screen, "you're everywhere!"

Danny opened his eyes with a grin on his face, looking around at the ten duplicates floating beside him. An echoing voice of all the Dannys spoke at once. "Here goes!"

"Whoa, nice!" Valerie commented, seeing the small army of Dannys.

"Let's just take care of all these guys at once and head inside!" Danny barked, rocketing himself forward at lightning speed, followed by the duplicates.

Sam watched with a chuckle as the multiple Dannys charged the group of men coming out of the building

==0==0==0==

"Sir, the enemy has just broken through our first line of men and are on their way inside." The man stood straight and spoke clearly to Alexander.

"Thank you for informing me." Alexander nodded. He turned to Charles who stood only a few feet away from him, "looks like your former pupil is already on his way here to defeat us, or so he thinks."

Charles said nothing.

"Let's finish this quickly, order all units to pull back, and have all the ranked members brought forward."

Charles gave a short bow in understanding and walked out of the room to gather all the ranked Zanar members. He made his way down a few hallways and entered a large room where seven people stood patiently, some of them leaning up against walls, some of them sitting down. Charles opened his mouth to speak, "our orders are to annihilate the enemy. All of you are going."

==0==0==0==

"Tucker, are you sure you'll be okay here?" Danny asked quietly.

They had just gotten inside and Tucker quickly found a small area where he could set up and monitor them. "I'll be fine, dude. You guys just worry about yourselves. I'll keep you updated on everything that's going on." His laptop was currently loading, "once this is all booted up, I'll be able to tell if an enemy is near."

Danny spun around violently, "incoming!" He barked.

Sam and Valerie tightened their grip on their weapons.

"Where?" Sam asked quickly, looking all around.

A vicious roar like a dog rang in Danny's ears and he barely had time to raise his arms to defend himself from the oncoming attack. A person flew out of what seemed like nowhere and slammed into Danny, sending them both flying across the room.

Danny landed on his back with the person crouched over him. "You!" He grit his teeth. Z-4, only one rank below him. The boy, not much older than Danny, bore his fangs at his opponent. His claws dug into Danny's shoulders as he held him down. Looking much more like a wild cat than a human, his light brown hair spiked behind him and his clothes were close to shreds.

Sam started to run to Danny to help him, but quickly had to back up the moment a bullet created a steaming hole in the floor just in front of her. She turned to see who was approaching. Two people; both of them she had met before. First was the boy that they had saved, Jake, also known as Z-5, then there was the girl who Sam had met recently, known as Shura. Sam glared fiercely at the girl. She remembered very clearly that this girl had tried, but failed, to seduce Danny.

Valerie was now facing her own problems as well. A young man well over five feet tall marched up to her, his blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and his hazel eyes stared intently at her. Following him was a young lady with striking red hair, she wore a simple pair of jeans and a white tank top, however, the only part of her that made Valerie uneasy was the eight blades lined along her thighs.

Danny looked over at his friends being cornered by the high ranked Zanar members. "Why are you _all _here!" Danny growled.

"Apparently, Z-1 wants us to finish you all off quickly. But honestly, this won't be much of a challenge." Xavier walked up and placed his foot on Danny's chest as though to prove who was the dominating one, "Leo here has been crazy waiting to fight." He pointed toward the wild boy on Danny.

Danny grit his teeth angrily. "We didn't quite finish our fight a few months ago, did we?"

Xavier chuckled, "as much as I'd _love_ to fight you right now, I'm under orders. All of us are. This isn't a game anymore." He grinned wildly. "Now the real fun starts."

==0==0==0==

Shura's eyes lit up with excitement, "Ooh, this will be fuuun!" she purred, "Danny's little girlfriend. We meet again." She smoothly reached over her shoulder and unsheathed a long, gleaming sword. "I'll take care of her, Jakey." She clasped her sword in her hands preciously.

Jake shrugged with a low grunt and took a few steps back to give Shura some room, "my specialty is long range anyway."

Sam bent her knees a little, preparing herself for an attack and grabbed one of her handguns from her belt. A click sounded as she loaded the small gun.

Shura pushed off of her toes, driving herself forward toward Sam, sword in hand and ready to slice. Sam's eyes widened and she threw her upper body backward and the blade swung over her. Sam held her breath, _if I hadn't ducked, my head would have been cut off my shoulders!_ She stood up straight again and within a second, her head instinctively turned in an attempt to avoid the oncoming sword. A thin line cut across her cheek. It took a moment for the pain to sink in. The sting felt like a fresh paper cut on her face. It didn't run too deep into her flesh, and Sam was grateful for that. But immediately blood began to drip from the wound, trickling down past her jaw.

Sam touched her cheek with her hand, flinching from the touch. She grit her teeth and raised her gun, inviting Shura to strike again. Blade raised, Shura began to take a step forward. A bullet blasted from Sam's gun. Blood flew into the air as the bullet imbedded itself into Shura's thigh. "Bullets are faster than swords!" Sam barked, aiming her gun once again at her opponent.

With a shriek of agony and anger, Shura jumped forward and raised her blade, swinging it down with all her might upon Sam. The goth teen raised the top of her gun upward to slow the force but it didn't help much, she had brought her other arm up instinctively to protect herself. The blade ran off the gun's surface and drove into Sam's open arm, cutting it's way along the side of her forearm.

Sam brought her foot up and kicked Shura in the stomach to push her away. She immediately cradled her bleeding arm while also trying to keep her eyes on the enemy. _I need to bandage this wound quickly or else I'll lose too much blood. _

Shura advanced once more at Sam, her eyes blazing with murderous intent. _Damn it!_ Sam let her bleeding arm drop to her side, drops of blood fell from the tips of her fingers. She raised her gun with her good arm as quickly as she could. Shura brought down her sword upon Sam. Sam fired point blank at her enemy before the sword could cut her.

The sword was dropped from Shura's hand. Shura stepped backward and looked down at her hand where blood began to heavily drip to the ground. Sam's bullet shot straight through her hand.

The pain didn't register in her mind. Shura's eyes madly widened, "you _bitch_!" She screamed and dove at Sam, no weapon in hand. She smacked Sam's gun away with her bleeding hand, making a splatter of blood across the floor. Shura dropped down onto Sam, pinning her to the ground and wrapping her fingers around Sam's neck.

Sam grit her teeth, trying to breathe but was unsuccessful. She pushed against Shura and tried to pull her hands off. Warm blood soaked Sam's neck from Shura's wound. _At this rate, she'll pass out from blood loss. _

Sam hoped that Shura would pass out quickly; in a match of strength, Shura was winning.

==0==0==0==

Danny shoved Leo with all his might, tossing the cat-boy off of him. He proceeded to punch Xavier's leg with enough strength to make him pull his foot off of his chest. Danny, while still on the ground, glanced over at Sam and Shura.

He could see the bloody mess that was made between them and didn't know whose blood had been spilled. He narrowed his eyes with fury, seeing Shura choking Sam to death on the floor.

"Let go of her!" Danny reached for his gun and aimed at Shura. Even lying on the ground, he had incredible accuracy. His heart raced and his thoughts were fast. He didn't think his actions through at all. Instinct took over.

The trigger was pulled. Shura's body was flung to the side, away from Sam. Blood splattered across the floor and walls. With a blow to the head like that, her death was instantaneous.

Danny rolled over and managed to bring himself to a stand; his body was still in the heat of the battle, and proceeded to fire at the rest of his enemies, aiming to kill.

==0==0==0==

Sam's body shook. She slowly looked over at Shura's body…or what was left of it. Shura's face had become unidentifiable. She lay there like a lifeless doll.

She looked down at the blood that had splattered across her clothes from the blast. Her face paled and her skin felt cold. Sam rolled over and vomited onto the floor. She coughed and spat for several more moments, trying to get rid of the disgusting taste in the back of her throat.

Sam had never been one to get queasy at the sight of blood or death, but this was something she wasn't able to handle.

==0==0==0==

Valerie and her opponents all turned to look at the scene Danny was causing. He panted rapidly with his firearm up and aiming at his enemies. Valerie also saw Sam in a terrible state and wanted to quickly run to her friend.

She sighed with relief when she saw Tucker kneel down next to Sam. He hadn't had any of the Zanar members attack him, and therefore had a chance to run and help Sam without much trouble.

The girl with red hair snapped her back to reality, "Hey, don't let your eyes wander too long, Hun."

Valerie's eyes widened and she ducked to the side to avoid the knife that was thrown at her.

"Otherwise you'll end up like Shura." She smiled wickedly.

==0==0==0==

Leo licked his lips eagerly.

Xavier chuckled, "Looks like you didn't lose your edge, did you, Z-3?"

"Shut up!" Danny wildly fired his gun at Xavier. The boy dodged the bullet, but not fast enough; His shoulder was grazed by the bullet but not enough to put him out of commission.

The moment Danny had fired his weapon Leo attacked him once again. He jumped toward Danny and grabbed a hold of his arm which held the gun; Leo then opened his mouth wide and bit down on Danny's forearm with his sharp teeth. The fangs drove into Danny's flesh with iron strength. Danny hissed from the pain that shot through his arm, but didn't release his weapon.

Danny swung his free arm around and grabbed a hold of Leo's wild hair, yanking him free of his arm. Leo didn't easily release his grip, blood splattered as his skin and flesh were torn from his bone. Danny slammed Leo onto the ground and pressed his foot against Leo's neck, cutting off his airway and then pointed his gun down toward his face.

Leo didn't look scared...he looked excited. He enjoyed this fight, and the danger and pain that came with it. Leo's eyes narrowed, daring Danny to pull the trigger.

In the background, Danny could hear Valerie and Tucker both scream at him to stop. And in his own mind, he knew he didn't want to take another life. Danny's eyebrows curved in and he grit his teeth, painfully trying to make a decision.

"I knew it." Leo's voice was scratchy and terrifying, like a blade cutting across glass, "you can't hold the place of Z-3 anymore. You're too weak!" He barked with laughter. Danny's eyes widened when Leo pulled out his own gun and aimed, "I on the other hand, have no problem killing a traitor!"

Danny heard Leo's gun fire and reacted out of instinct. His finger pulled down on his own gun before moving his in a quick attempt to avoid the bullet. Not having time to relax, Danny looked at Leo to see if his bullet had hit him. To his relief _and _despair, Leo hadn't been hit.

"Haha! Ya missed." Leo stood up and grinned menacingly, "But _I _didn't."

Danny looked down at his body, "shit." It was then that he felt the pulsing pain travel through his body from the bullet wound in his stomach. The blood soaked his clothes and Danny dropped to the ground, pressing his hand to the wound to stop the bleeding before it killed him.

**A/N: Is Leo a Werewolf? Half cat? Or something else? You decide! I couldn't care less what he is, but I love having him as Z-4! We always need a deranged creature as an enemy at some point, right?**

** Anyway...** **My focus right now is on my newest story "Guilty" (which I really enjoy writing), but someone requested that I update this story. So, not wanting to disappoint, I **_**did**_** update (quite a long chapter too)! Crazy, I know! It's amazing how long it's been since I updated this! **

** But not to worry, I didn't forget about this story! But as I said, I am putting most of my effort into my other story. I do plan on completing this fanfic...I don't know when that will be, but I'll do my best!**

** Thanks to everyone who has followed me up until this point! You're all amazing! **


	17. Switching Sides

Shattered Tears

Chapter 17: Switching Sides

Youngblood groaned for a few moments before opening his eyes, "Wulf?"

The hairy creature sat in front of him, his black nose only a few inches away from Youngblood's face. He wagged his tail a bit, happy that Youngblood was alright. "How are you feeling?" He asked in Esperanto.

"Not too good." Youngblood sat up and observed his surroundings. He and Wulf were trapped inside of a large room with absolutely nothing in it, it seemed to be made of concrete all around. "Where are we?"

"Plasmius's place I assume. I can tell we're not in the Ghost Zone anymore." Wulf grunted, "I've tried to cut a hole into the Ghost Zone but for some reason it won't work here."

Youngblood grit his teeth, "Plasmius always thinks of everything. Damn it. What are we going to do now?" He gently ran his hand across his abdomen where his wound was still healing, "if we can't get out of here we can't reach Danielle…wherever she is." He bit his lip, "Shit! I should have done more to keep that bastard away from her! It's my fault for being too weak! I'm supposed to protect her!" He brought his knees up closer to his chest and rested his forehead on his knees.

"We can still save her."

Youngblood sighed, "how though? You can't use your powers in here, which means mine are probably just as useless. I don't have my sword anymore and I can't make another one with my ectoplasm right now because I'm running low on energy…Our whole plan of defeating Vlad is pretty pointless right now."

Wulf growled deep in his throat, "since when were you one to give up so quickly? What happened to your confidence from before! We haven't been defeated yet, so why are you treating this like it's the end!"

"Well _I _can't think of a plan! Can you! We can't get in touch with anyone else that's in our group to defeat Plasmius!" Youngblood tossed his hands up, "there isn't anything we can do!" He cringed from moving.

"You haven't tried using your powers yet." Wulf pointed out, "you've been training hard lately. Are you telling me you haven't learned _any _new powers?"

Youngblood shook his head, "not any that could be helpful to us…" he paused for several moments, then his eyes widened and his face lit up, "although…I think I might know a way to get in contact with someone in the Ghost Zone!" He bit his lip, "but…I don't know if I can really do it from the human world…"

Wulf tilted his head with confusion.

"When you say that you can't cut into the Ghost Zone…what do you mean exactly?"

"Whenever I try, the portal will close immediately, not enough time for anyone to get through."

"But you _can_ briefly make a connection to the Ghost Zone?" Youngblood asked anxiously.

"Yeah." Wulf nodded in confirmation.

"That should work! Might as well give it a try!"

"What are you going to do?" Wulf inquired.

Youngblood chuckled, "I'm going to get in contact with an old buddy of mine…"

==0==0==0==

There were lots of places in the Ghost Zone with a variety of climates, yes even in this seemingly empty space, people, or rather, ghosts, had places to live.

Cobo wasn't the most threatening ghost and certainly not very strong. Sure he had done his fair share of 'evil deeds' but now he mostly just lived a quiet life on this small island hovering aimlessly in the Ghost Zone.

Cobo didn't have the same abilities as most of the ghosts in the Ghost Zone, but he _did_ have an ability that was very useful at times, he could change his form. At the request of his old companion, he once had to take the shape of a parrot to match the 'pirate' look, and following that, Cobo was a horse so that his companion could ride on him as a cowboy. The only disappointing thing was that he could only take the shape of skeletons. In other words, a skeleton bird, or a skeleton horse rather than a real one.

It was quite annoying sometimes, dealing with such an annoying little kid that wanted to play dress up. After several interesting adventures with Youngblood, Cobo 'retired' and found a nice place to be at peace.

As of now, Cobo had taken the shape of a large phoenix. It was a form that he used often before having met Youngblood and being told to turn into strange animals. Although he didn't have the bright, gorgeous feathers of a phoenix, the structure of the body was still quite magnificent. The long range wings rested on his body and Cobo sat on the branch of a tall tree.

Very suddenly, Cobo was jolted out of his peaceful meditation. "Who's there!" He demanded.

==0==0==0==

"Did I get the connection?" Youngblood asked out loud.

The portal had already closed just as they had expected.

"Hello?" Youngblood asked, "Cobo? You there?" When he heard no reply he snarled, "damn it, it didn't work? I thought for sure I would be able to hold the connection even after the portal closed…Cobo and I used to be able to communicate from long distances all the time…"

"_Who might this be?_" A voice could be heard inside of the room, but seemed quite watered down, like listening through a telephone.

Youngblood raised his eyebrows, "Cobo! Is that you?"

"_Indeed it is…_"

"Oh hell yeah!" Youngblood grinned, "this is Youngblood, it's been a while, huh Cobo? Okay listen, I'm in a really tight situation and I need you to do something for me! I promise I will make it up to you!"

==0==0==0==

Cobo was certainly surprised to be hearing from Youngblood. It had been at least four years since he last heard from him. The skeleton phoenix had to admit that Youngblood sounded more mature than he did several years ago.

"Alright then, what do you need?"

Youngblood went over the instructions very quickly. The moment Youngblood broke off the connection, Cobo extended his bone wings to their full length on either side of him and with one large flap, he launched himself into the air, even though it really made no sense that he could fly with only bones.

"It's been a while since I got to do anything interesting," Cobo chuckled, "this should be fun."

==0==0==0==

Ember sat on the rock located on a small platform, she leaned forward with her guitar in hand and quietly strummed a tune. Also on the platform was her boyfriend Skulker, who stood there silently, but had the same angry look he always had. Then there was Ember's two friends Spectra and Kitty, and of course some ghosts whom she had previous connections with but didn't exactly call them friends. Namely the Box Ghost, Johnny 13, Technus and Desiree. There were several others that Ember had never met before except when they all had meetings together in the Ghost Zone.

Finally, Ember stopped playing her music and spoke up to break the silence, "where the hell is Youngblood! Him, Wulf and Danielle said they would meet up with us! We've been here for hours!"

"You don't think they were attacked do you?" Skulker asked.

"Yeah, they could have been." Spectra, in her pitch black form said, "it's a shame for Wulf and Youngblood, but to the girl I say good riddance. We don't need a Danny Phantom clone in our group."

Ember looked at Spectra, "hey, Dani isn't the one who put us back in the Ghost Zone. She's a member of our group, alright? And I'm being serious, where are they?"

"We should split up and look for them." Johnny leaned back on his motorcycle, "if they were killed by that Dark One then we should all go lookin' for them right?"

"Way to be negative, Johnny!" Kitty put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips, "there's no way they would be killed by that thing!"

"But what if they were?" The Box Ghost tilted his head, "if they were beat up by that thing then won't we all be next!" He brought his head down.

"Against one Dark One? All of us would be able to take it down! Hell I could take it down myself!" Technus folded his arms and continued to shout his sentences, "with my new upgrades I can trap that Dark One and kill it!"

"Yeah right," Desiree flipped her long black hair, "you turned tail and ran the second you saw one of them."

"Let's see you go take down the Dark One!" Technus growled, "you wouldn't last a second!"

"This isn't about who's the strongest!" Ember stood up and walked up to Technus, "none of us can defeat it ourselves! We need to stay as a group!"

"All of you shut up!" Someone barked.

Everyone turned and glared at the one who shouted.

Cobo flapped his wings, staying in place by the platform that they all stood upon, "This arguing isn't going to get you anywhere."

"Who the hell are you?" Skulker snarled.

Ember raised an eyebrow, "I know that voice. You're Youngblood's pet, right?"

"Using the term 'pet' is quite insulting you know. I prefer 'companion' or even 'friend'." Cobo continued, "that's not the point. I have a message for you all from Youngblood, he asked me to come here."

That quickly got their attention.

"He was able to get in contact with me. Wulf, Youngblood and Danielle have been captured by the Dark One and it's master Vlad Plasmius."

"I knew it was that bastard!" Ember barked.

"Plasmius is in the human world, Youngblood thinks you should all attack while he is off guard and stop him before he can continue with his plans." Cobo finished.

==0==0==0==

"Danny!" Sam began staggering toward him, despite the fact that she was feeling sick and dizzy. To her complete surprise, a pair of hands grabbed a hold of her shoulders to hold her steady. Sam turned her head to see who stood behind her, and saw Jake, the one who they had saved a while back. "What are you doing?" She muttered.

Jake's face was fully clenched with what seemed to be anguish. But there were no signs of injuries on his body. "I'm helping." He calmly replied.

Danny gasped heavily, "Leo…you bastard." He clenched his teeth,

"With this, I'm guessing it's safe to say we win, right?" Leo licked his lips, "or do we have to kill the others too?" He glanced at Valerie and Tucker who stared at him with disgust and horror. Leo then looked over to Sam who was being supported by Jake, "hmph. You finally decided to show your true colours, huh Jakey?" He shrugged, "well if you're on their side, I guess we'll just have to kill you too!"

Leo launched himself toward Sam and Jake, claws out in front of him.

Jake quickly stepped in front of Sam with no weapon in hand, ready to take the attack full-on.

Valerie cursed before reaching to her belt to pull out her gun.

Leo let out a screech and stumbled before he could reach the two of them. Two small blades stuck out from his thigh. He stopped and turned to face Lilia, the red-haired girl whom Valerie had been up against. "You too!" He snarled.

Lilia had a wide grin across her face, in her right hand she juggled three knives while her left hand was settled in her jean pocket. "Sorry bro, my hand slipped." She cackled with laughter.

"The hell it did!" Leo reached down and yanked the two blades from his leg, tossing them to the floor with a _clang_. His growl that rumbled in his throat could be heard by everyone in the room, "first Z-3, then Jake, now you too! How many of you are going to betray Zanar! Do you have any respect for Z-1! He's taken care of us this whole time, and you all turn on him!"

Lilia raised an eyebrow, "I hate to tell ya, bro, but he's done nothing for us except make us work our asses off and risk our lives. I can see why Z-3 over there decided to turn against Zanar. It's about time we changed this place."

Valerie glared at Lilia, "if you are on our side, why the hell did you throw a knife at me?"

Lilia chuckled, "for fun."

Sam didn't care about what they were saying. She took this opportunity to run out from behind Jake and hobble her way over to Danny. She dropped to her knees and put her ear up to his chest, "Danny?" She whimpered softly, "stay awake, okay? We're not done here yet. We're all going to leave here together, right?"

Danny's eyes fluttered open and he looked toward her, "y-yeah. Don't worry, I'm just resting," he forced a smile, "I'm not dead yet, ya hear?"

Sam sniffed and nodded.

The boy with blonde hair in a ponytail and hazel eyes knelt down on the other side of Danny. Z-7, also known as Noran, looked up into Sam's eyes, "He might make it if we close up the wound fast enough. I'm a medic, I'll do whatever I can."

Leo's eyes widened, a vein in his temple pulsed with absolute fury. "You've gotta be shitting me here! All of you! How many of you bastards are going to take their side!"

Xavier had his eyes tightly clamped shut, his entire body trembled. "I…would NEVER betray Zanar!" He barked at the top of his lungs, "I made a promise to Zanar, hell you _all_ made a promise to serve Zanar! I didn't realize those ties could be severed so quickly!" Xavier reached over his shoulder and unsheathed a sword about half the length of Shura's. Although he was good with firearms, his specialty had been swords and close-combat. "You're all pathetic!"

Leo grit his teeth, "stop, Xavier! That's it for now! Forget these traitors. We'll inform Z-1 about this and go from there."

Xavier's hands trembled with fury, but he nodded in agreement.

"Hey!" Lilia snarled, "don't think we'll let you go so easily!"

Xavier's eyes screamed murder. He reached into his pocket and before any of them could react, he threw a couple of small gray spheres to the ground.

A smoke cloud erupted throughout the entire area, making it impossible for any of them to see. They all coughed and covered their faces with their hands, waiting for the dust cloud to vanish.

Jake opened his eyes as the cloud receded, and could see that both Xavier and Leo had vanished. "Shit."

Valerie and Tucker made a dash toward Danny now that nothing stood in their way. All of them waited around Danny and watched as Noran pressed on the wound to stop the bleeding.

Jake turned to Lilia, "you were the last person I would have expected to turn on Zanar."

Lilia shrugged, "a girl can change her mind whenever the hell she wants." She grinned with triumph. It was only a few seconds before her face fell and she looked mournfully at the bloodied Shura, "I can't say she didn't have it coming…but still…"

Jake bit his lip before he unzipped his sweater and pulled it off one sleeve at a time. He took a few steps closer to Shura and draped the brown sweater over the top half of her body. "It's hard to lose someone you know…it's funny actually. I thought that Zanar had turned me into a mindless monster that killed whoever needed to be killed, I started to think that life meant nothing, it was all just a pointless game in the hands of fate. But the minute someone close to me dies…" he covered his eyes, but the tears still fell down his face, "…I start to feel what so many others in this world have felt in the past when I killed their loved one or a family member. I didn't give a damn who it was as long as it was an order…"

"You're getting too worked up over this," Lilia put a hand on Jake's shoulder, "just don't think about the past. Think about what the future holds." Lilia glanced over at the group of friends lined up by Danny, "with them, I think we can make a little bit of a difference."

The room fell silent for a few seconds.

"It'll get easier as time goes on." Danny whispered, "I know that from experience."

Jake a Lilia looked over at him. His face was pale, eyes only half open and sweat trickled down his temples.

"It feels good though, doesn't it?" He smiled weakly, "doing the right thing, I mean."

Lilia narrowed her eyes, "sh-shut up! You want me to stab you, you little twerp!"

Jake chuckled, "you're looking pretty good for a guy who just got shot."

"Heh, I've had worse." Danny cringed, "getting shot never feels good though." He was short of breath just from talking and was losing energy fast.

Noran put his hand on Danny's shoulder, "Z-3, I really need you to stop talking for a bit. You're using up too much of your energy. Now that I've stopped the bleeding for the most part, I'm going to stitch up the wound. I don't have any medicine, so it could sting a bit."

"It can't be worse than getting shot." Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "By the way…it's Danny, not Z-3."

Sam looked at Valerie and Tucker, "how are you two holding up?"

"Us! We're doing fine. Neither of us really got hurt. You on the other hand," Valerie gently grabbed onto Sam's hand and brought her arm out to look at the cut along her arm, "we need to get this wrapped up."

"It'll be alright. It's not as deep as I thought it would be and the bleeding has stopped." Sam assured her.

Tucker shook his head, "Valerie is right, we need to get that wrapped up asap." He started to stand, "I'll see what I have."

Noran looked up at Tucker, "I can help."

"No, no," Tucker said, "you worry about Danny. I may not be a medic but I know enough to treat Sam. Don't you dare let our friend die!"

==0==0==0==

Charles waited in his seat located on the other side of Alexander's room, quietly staring at his hands.

"Your pupil, Z-3 is causing quite a commotion for us." Alexander grumbled.

"I'm aware of that, sir." Charles clasped his hands together.

"You seem to be awfully tense today, Charles."

"Sorry." Charles' head perked up a bit, "they're back." He made his way to the double doors located about ten feet away from his chair and cracked it open a bit to see who was there. The guards that normally stood by the door were away, Alexander had them go defend different parts of the building. "Sir," Charles let the door open fully, "looks like only two of them are here…"

Alexander waved for them to enter, which they did obediently.

Xavier and Leo both dropped their heads to bow to Alexander, and waited patiently.

"Where are the others?" Alexander asked calmly.

Xavier and Leo looked at each other. Leo brought his head up first, "those bastards joined Z-3's team to work against us…there was nothing we could do! I didn't realize that-"

"Silence." Alexander brought his hand up to quiet Leo, which worked instantly. "All of them did?"

"Z-8 was killed by Z-3... Z-5, Z-7 and Z-9 are now working with him."

And what of "Z-10?"

Xavier raised his eyebrows, "I…didn't see him there at all…" He glanced at Leo, "did you see him?"

Leo shook his head silently.

"Well this is troublesome." Alexander looked at Charles, "Z-2, I want you to go with Z-4 and Z-6. I take back what I said earlier about killing them all! Kill each of them but don't touch Z-3. I want to take care of him myself!" Even though he managed to keep a relatively calm composure, inside, Alexander was furious with the situation. Not only did Danny disrespect Zanar, he was bringing others to his side to fight against it as well! That was something Alexander couldn't stand!

All three bowed, "yes, sir!"

==0==0==0==

Lilia stood only a few feet away from where Danny lay unconscious. Noran had finished stitching and bandaging his wounds, all they could do now was wait for him to wake up. Noran stayed by Danny's side and constantly put his hands against his forehead to see if his fever was going down.

Sam and Tucker sat cross-legged by Danny, silently waiting for him to show any response. Sam's arm was heavily bandaged, and it still throbbed terribly, but right now, she didn't really think about it.

Valerie didn't sit by Danny, instead she was standing very close to Lilia, constantly eyeing her like a hawk. She didn't trust any of these guys from Zanar. Even if they seemed to be serious about not wanting to be on Zanar's side, she didn't want to let her guard down in case it was all a trap.

Jake also stood nearby, his back facing the others. He kept his eyes peeled, in case someone tried to attack them all while they recovered.

"It's always the young ones." Lilia broke the silence.

"Huh?" Valerie turned to look at her, confused by her sentence.

"It's the young ones that are always so attached to Zanar and willing to die for it. Z-3, Z-4 and Z-6 are the three youngest of the ranked members." She nodded to Danny, "he was the only one who was brought here with no memories and was considered 'nameless', but still, Z-4 and Z-6 were brought in here without much real-life experience, they were very quick to learn Zanar's ways and never questioned Z-1." Lilia sighed heavily.

"Who is what now?" Valerie raised an eyebrow, "I can't remember who is who. Just call them by their names." She came off a bit snappy, but Lilia didn't seem to take offense.

"Leo, Xavier and I guess you call him Danny, are the only three that really lost themselves in Zanar. They were pretty much raised here to be killing machines. They didn't have much of a choice. The rest of us, well, we ended up coming here for whatever circumstance, but you can't always train an old dog new tricks. Those of us that had a real life at one point know that life outside of Zanar is better than this." Lilia continued, "the only reason we didn't ever oppose was because we were afraid."

Noran chuckled, Valerie and Lilia both looked at him. "I guess after we saw this guy change so much and turn against Zanar, we all got our hopes up…maybe too much." He paused and looked up at Valerie intently, "none of us realized what we were getting into when we joined this place. We all have gotten tired of working here." Noran put his hand up to his face, "I wanted to graduate from medical school and work as a doctor. Instead, I ended up as an assassin and was only allowed to treat other people that worked here."

Jake cut in, "we can't atone for the sins we've caused in the past. We will end up living with that forever." He turned to face all of his companions, "but we can try to stop this madness from continuing. If we can just manage to defeat Z-1, then this whole organization would crumble."

Sam smiled, "and that's what we'll do! If you all help us, we'll have a much better chance of defeating that bastard!"

Each of them nodded with agreement.

**A/N: Does **_**anyone**_** know the name of Youngblood's bird / horse? I swear I don't remember Youngblood ever saying his name…so I gave him the name Cobo…it was the name of my fish when I was younger, haha! **

** But besides that, it's been a while, huh? I think the best thing for any readers to do is just assume I'll update once a year…because that's pretty much the rate I'm going at. I have a ton of things piled on my lap and even if I really want to, I just don't always have time to write. **

** As I have always said, I don't plan on dropping this story or any of my other stories. I plan on finishing them eventually!**

** IMPORTANT: As I have mentioned before, go to my profile on Fanfiction for updates on when stories will be published and such. If I'm taking too long to update, I will most likely post something about it on my profile! (The most recent post will be at the very bottom.)**

** Thank you all for your support! (Hugs!) **


	18. Stand Up Strong

Shattered Tears

Chapter 18: Stand Up Strong

**A/N: Boo! Scared ya? I know, I'm surprised too. It's been months since I last updated anything. Please enjoy the chapter, I will give a longer Authors Note at the end of the chapter to bore you with!**

** Recap: Danny, Sam, Tucker and Valerie are in Zanar Headquarters to fight Z1, also know as Alexander, in a battle to get Danny's memories back. The four of them faced the 'Z' members and it was revealed that Z-5 (Jake), Z-7 (Noran), and Z-9 (Lilia) have betrayed Zanar to work with Danny and his friends to defeat Alexander.  
Meanwhile, Youngblood, Danielle and Wulf were captured by the Dark One and its master Vlad Plasmius. Youngblood and Wulf are trapped and asked the other ghosts in the Ghost Zone for assistance. **

==0==0==0==

"I really don't think you should be moving yet, dude." Tucker placed his hand on Danny's shoulder as he attempted to sit up.

Danny held his breath for a moment as his torso began to cramp and flare up with pain. However he managed to sit up completely, leaning forward with his arms wrapped around his stomach as though to support it in some way. The bandages were wrapped tightly around his entire stomach and chest, making it nearly impossible to twist or even maneuver correctly. "I think you may have put a few too many layers of gauze on me, Seven."

Noran smirked, "you can never have too many layers." He was on his knees only a few feet from Danny, packing up all of his medical stuff into a small white box. "You should feel lucky I had my medical equipment with me, otherwise you probably would have bled to death. A bullet wound to the stomach is no joke, you're extremely lucky it didn't hit anything critical! If it had pierced your lung or any vital organs there's no way we could have saved you."

Danny chuckled, "well, thanks for wrapping me up."

"No, seriously, Danny." Noran looked at him with a stern glare, "you have to be careful. You know very well just about everyone who works here has a gun, try not to get shot again. You've already lost a considerable amount of blood," he held up his hands to show, even though he had cleaned them, they were still stained red from Danny's blood. "I'm not a miracle worker, if you get hurt again, I can't guarantee we can keep you alive!"

"Alright," Danny waved at him limply, "I'll be careful." He gave a weak smile, "but seriously, thanks for helping."

Sam put her hand on Danny's forehead, "do you have a fever? You aren't looking so good. You should rest longer."

At this, Danny narrowed his eyes, "did you forget where we are, Sam? This isn't the time to take breaks or _rest_. This is a real fight. You have to keep going until you don't have any strength left in you. Get it? We came here for one purpose, and until we succeed, none of us will be able to rest." He leaned toward Sam and lightly kissed her on the forehead, "don't worry about me so much. I'm not going to die that easily."

"You better not." Sam wrapped her arms around Danny for a few seconds before pulling away. With Tucker's help, the two of them assisted Danny with getting to his feet.

"Well isn't that _touching_." A frighteningly familiar voice reached their ears.

Every single one of the _former_ Zanar members felt a shiver run up their spine, each of them standing tall and proceeding to pull out their weapons. Danny especially, his eyes widened and he gasped with horror and nostalgia.

With the area they were all standing, there didn't seem to be a lot of openings to attack from. A shriek was heard. All heads turned to Lilia, who was now sliding down the wall, eyes closed and unconscious. Nobody could be seen near her.

"Sam! Tucker!" Danny stepped in front of them, his arms out to either side as though to create a wall in front of them, "don't move!" He looked over at Valerie, "Val, stay behind..." He gasped, noticing that Valerie was lying on the floor, eyes closed just as Lilia was.

Jake moved a step closer to Noran, both of them just a few feet from Danny, Sam and Tucker. "Danny, we have to grab them and go! Now! We're no match for-" Jake felt the wind completely knocked out of him. His body arched forward as a punch was delivered straight into his gut. The force of the hit sent him crashing into the wall located only three feet behind him. His head was thrown backward from his back colliding with the wall. The back of his skull exploded with pain. A small splatter of blood could be seen from the force of the blow on the wall. His body then fell to the floor, limp as a sock.

"Jake!" Noran cried out.

Sam, Tucker and Danny all had their attention on their recent fallen friend.

"Seven!" Danny barked at Noran, "take Sam and Tucker and go!"

"Danny, what is happening!" Sam cried out, looking frantically at all of their friends who had been knocked to the ground in an instant.

"It's Z-2!" Noran answered for Danny, "He's the fastest of any Zanar member! And one of the strongest!" He looked at Danny, "Danny, we can't possibly get away."

Danny clenched his hands tightly, "damn it." he muttered, "get close to me!"

All of them moved closer to Danny. He reached his hands up into the air and from them a green transparent wall of ectoplasm created a dome around the four of them. The green wall then froze into a solid wall of ice.

Noran shook his head, "this wont stop him completely. He'll be able to break through in no time."

"I didn't create it to stop him, I wanted to slow him down. He can't get through the ice without us noticing which way he's coming from." Danny's body had been trained for years to be able to think clearly in these sorts of situations. Even though his heart rate was speeding up with anxiety and worry over the safety of his friends, he knew that worrying too much would ruin his decision making and most likely just create chaos. _Even with this ice blocking us, I know he can easily break through...hopefully it can give us a split second to react. _"Sam, Tucker, stay on your toes. Don't fight Z-2. There is no way you stand a chance, if you see an opportunity, just run. We'll be able to find you later if need be."

"Who is Z-2!" Tucker asked, wide-eyed with shock. "He just took out all of them in, like, a second!"

"He was my teacher when I lived here. He's one rank above me...but even so, if he's fighting seriously, there's no way I can possibly defeat him." Danny pressed his hand to his stomach and cringed, "especially as I am now." In his mind, Danny thought of all the possible ways to escape or fight and be able to keep everyone alive. None of the strategies had a high chance of working, in fact the chances that they would succeed was less than one percent at best. The ghost boy shook his head with frustration, "the best thing we can do is for me to fight him, you guys grab everyone and find a different place to hide in the building."

"Like hell that will work!" Tucker barked, "did you see what happened out there! With you injured, you'll end up on the ground in the blink of an eye. I don't even know this dude, but he isn't someone we should mess with!"

Sam nodded, "I agree with Tucker."

Danny sighed heavily.

"And also..." Sam raised her eyebrows, "is he...still here? He isn't attacking."

They weren't able to see anything out of the ice frosted dome, all they could see was the white snow-like walls protecting them.

"The others haven't moved..." Noran replied, "Danny and I can sense their presence. But Z-2 is too good, we can't tell where he is."

Danny shook his head, "there's no way he-"

From every angle around them, the ice shattered as though hit with a large hammer. The once thick, solid wall was now broken into thousands of small pieces. Each of them reacted, bringing their arms up to block any ice that wanted to hit their head. Danny quickly realized that all of them were vulnerable for that split second. He fought against the instinct to protect himself from falling ice and started to reach for Sam and Tucker.

Danny stopped, and saw very briefly as Z-2 took down both of his friends and Noran in one go. Tucker lay on the floor only a few feet away, still conscious, but holding his head delicately. Danny saw as Z-2 hit Sam across the face with enough force to bring her off her feet for a split second and land on her back with a _thump_. He wasn't able to see how Noran was defeated, but could easily see that the boy wasn't going to be waking up any time soon.

Danny looked left and right, unable to see his former _Master_ anywhere near him. "Is this what you were going for!" Danny shouted at the top of his lungs, "you were trying to talk to me alone? You could have just said so!" When he didn't receive a response, Danny turned and quickly started moving toward Sam and Tucker.

Half expecting it, Danny didn't make it even two steps before his body was flung in a completely different direction. He landed on his back and skid a few feet. Normally he would jump up right away, but in his case right now, that wasn't physically possible. He rolled to his side and started to push himself up with his arms. He was only half-standing when a harsh kick to the leg brought him to the floor again, this time he let out a cry of pain.

Danny didn't get up this time, he stayed where he was and looked up at his teacher, now standing over him, looking down. Danny smirked nervously, "You finally show yourself, huh? Did you not want anyone else to see you? Or did you just want to act like an invisible man."

"Ah, well you know, kid, I always enjoy making the fight more fun _for me_." Z-2, or rather, Charles muttered.

"Now I know that's a lie. You hate fighting dirty." Danny groaned and once again made an attempt to stand up.

Charles lunged forward, grabbing a hold of Danny's shirt and swung him around, launching him directly at the wall. Danny's back slammed into it. The pain from his bullet wound increased tenfold, spreading across his entire torso. Danny fell forward from the wall, wrapping both his arms around his chest, heaving in and out with strenuous effort. He crash landed on the floor, laying on his side. Then Danny curled his legs up toward himself. The force from hitting the wall could very well have almost broken his spine. Danny had to think that the massive amounts of bandage on his mid-section softened the blow at least a little bit. Even so, it hurt badly.

Danny looked up at Charles, "So," he breathed heavily through his nose, having some trouble getting the words to come out, "you're serious about this fight? You're going to kill me and my friends here? Because that's how they _do_ things here at this damn place!"

Charles, though not with all of his strength, kicked Danny while he was on the ground right in the stomach. Danny felt as though he was shot _again_. Danny's eyes grew wide and his body reacted to the blow. Danny vomited a mix of water, blood and some unpleasant food bits onto the floor beside him.

"Why did you come here!" Charles began to shout, "you knew you wouldn't be able to make it out alive. Alexander would never let you leave here alive with your friends! You knew this and yet you still came here! You should realize it isn't fun for me to have to fight my own student! Someone I viewed as my friend!"

Danny looked up at Charles with wide, caring eyes.

"You think that just because you have these ghost powers back you can suddenly stand up against Zanar!" He motioned toward Danny's appearance of white hair and black outfit. "_one_ person alone doesn't have all of the power to fight against an entire organization!"

Hissing and groaning with agony, Danny replied "that's why I didn't come alone!" He glared at his Master, "I brought friends! Sam! Tucker! Valerie! They stayed by my side the whole way, all because we wanted to get my memories back! They care about me more than anyone else has. Don't tell me we don't stand a chance! I know that it is a one in a million chance, but that isn't necessarily impossible!" Danny growled, "and what is this bull about being my friend! I _did_ trust you! But I found out the truth from Alexander about my memories!"

Charles narrowed his eyes slightly.

-Flashback-

_Danny growled in the back of his throat, holding the phone close up against his ear with his hands firmly gripping it, "Fine. One last question. You worked with the Guys in White, and they said that you guys are the ones that took my memories, is that true!"_

_ Alexander replied, "That is accurate information. In fact, the one in charge of the operation was none other than Charles, all the information on that subject is kept with him."_

_-_Present-

"Was he telling the truth!" Danny snarled, "Were you the one in charge of stealing my memories from me!"

There was a long pause. Charles and Danny stared long and hard into each others eyes. "You're a smart kid, you should be able to tell."

Danny used the wall as support to slowly crawl up to his feet, "why didn't you tell me?"

At this, Charles let out a barking laugh, "you think I would just _tell_ you that I was one of the people who ruined your life! I destroyed everything you had! I didn't have the heart to tell you that!"

At this, the corner of Danny's mouth turned to a smile. "I knew it." Danny reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper with only one small sentence on it: "_Take care, kid._" He tossed it forward, allowing it to flutter to the ground with the words facing up, "you sent this to me a little while back. Remember?"

"Of course." Charles answered honestly.

"You didn't want me to come back here. You wanted me to find a better life, right? You did care about me."

"Obviously I did, you brat!" Charles barked at Danny, "I thought of you as my own son! Even if it was only a few years...I still..." Charles held back what he was going to say.

Danny smiled the slightest bit, "I felt the same."

Charles shook his head, "no, if you knew the truth you wouldn't think of me that way. I don't deserve your respect or kindness whatsoever. I ruined everything for you."

"If it's true that you are the one who took away my memories, you can return them! Right? You can leave Zanar like the rest of us are planning to! You didn't ruin everything for me, you were there by my side the whole time I was here, you took care of me!" Danny took a few painful steps toward him. "You can choose a different life than this, Master!"

At this, Charles snarled, "I _told_ you never to call me that! You are an ignorant child!"

"I care about you like my own family! I don't want to have to be your enemy any longer, _Charles_!" Danny felt strange calling his _master_ by the name Charles. He had always referred to him as Master, and each time, Charles got mad.

"Do you want to know the truth, _Danny_!" Charles barked. This was the first time he had called Danny something other than 'kid' or 'boy'. "Did you ever find out what happened that day?"

Hearing Charles call him by his true name felt like both a warm embrace as well as a punch in the stomach. "What day?" Danny inquired, standing up as straight as he could.

"The day that your family was _killed_!" Charles yelled.

Danny could swear he saw a tear in Charles' eye. Danny's mouth opened slightly, "what do you mean? Of course I don't know about it...I don't remember it."

Charles raised one of his hands up and covered his face, inhaling and exhaling deeply for several moments. "I was there...I was there when your family was murdered..."

_-5 years Previous-_

It was easy to break into the house, not only was the front door unlocked, but the all the windows didn't seem to have high security. There was some odd security around the house, but it didn't seem to do anything to them at least. Having gotten a few details of the place, Charles knew that this family was a family of researchers; ghost researchers. That idea itself was almost laughable for Charles. In his hand, he held his gun, loaded and prepared to fire.

"Is the coast clear?" The man next to him asked as they slowly crept into the living room.

Charles pursed his lips with annoyance. The man next to him was wearing all white, which stood out way too much; also the man wouldn't shut up. Charles was worried that he might mess up the mission. He didn't understand why he had to go on this job with a man like this. But Charles didn't ask questions like that to his boss. He brought his index finger up to his lips to tell the man to be quiet.

Agent C was what the man was called, and Charles didn't care to know his real name.

Charles could hear noises from the kitchen. He narrowed his eyes. _Is that Danny Phantom? From what I could tell, he was upstairs. Damn it, Agent C said that his family wasn't home! If it turns out to be someone else, we'll have no choice but to kill them. This is one of our only chances at capturing Phantom, anyone that stands in the way will be eliminated. _

Agent C was the first to go forward and turn around the corner into the kitchen with his gun raised.

_What the hell are you doing, you idiot! Is your way of killing someone to just walk right up to them and assume that everything will go well!_ Charles knew that there was no point to hiding himself anymore. He followed Agent C and also turned into the kitchen.

A woman wearing an odd blue jumpsuit and goggles stood there with a weapon in her hands. "Who the hell are you!" She spat coldly. "Answer me, now!" She raised the gun to eye level.

Agent C kept his own gun raised but replied, "We're not here to hurt your family, we just need your son."

At this, the woman tightened her grip on the weapon, Charles could see that she was serious about shooting them. This woman was a fighter. He knew that she wouldn't let up very easily.

"What do you want with Danny!"

Agent C replied, "Ma'am, that information is confidential. Now, we just-"

"You think I'll just let you take my son and leave!"

"Ma'am, your son is a serious threat! We're trying to help!" Agent C barked, "by keeping him here you are bringing danger to your family as well as the city!"

Charles glared at Agent C, _you're telling her too much information! _

"I won't let you hurt my family!" The woman grit her teeth and her body tightened, building up for an attack.

Charles bit the inside of his cheek and fired his gun. Neither Agent C nor the woman knew that Charles would do that. His Zanar gun created no noise. Nobody else in the house would know that anything was happening.

The woman dropped her weapon and brought her hands around her stomach to press against the wound that spilled with blood. She opened her mouth several times, but no sound escaped. The woman dropped to her knees, leaning over and still clutching her stomach. Charles walked forward until he was next to the woman and crouched down, "I'm sorry," he apologized, "We didn't realize that your entire family would be here. This wasn't our intention."

Tears began to spill from the corners of her eyes, "M-my son is not dangerous." She quietly said to Charles. "My son is a hero." Her lips twitched to a smile.

Charles raised his eyebrows, "from what I heard, his family had no idea he was half ghost."

"I…would be a terrible mother…if I didn't notice something like that…" She grunted in pain, blood trickled from her mouth and trailed down her chin.

Agent C walked up and stood next to Charles, "she won't live much longer." He loaded his gun, "might as well end it now."

"Wait-" Charles cringed when the gun was fired. The woman dropped to her side, blood soaking the kitchen floor around her. "What the hell are you doing! Do _not_ do anything unless you check with me first!"

"We have a job to do, I don't have time for you to chit-chat with our targets." Agent C turned and walked out of the kitchen.

Muttering under his breath, Charles said "killing innocent civilians isn't part of our job!" He looked at the mother on the floor, "you did well to stand up for your family until the very end." He stood up slowly. _That bastard! If he keeps doing things like this, it won't go so well for us!_

Charles had barely stood up when he heard some commotion in the living room. In his mind, he hoped he would get a chance to shoot Agent C.

"Mom? Dad?" A girl's voice called out. "Guys? Are you here?"

Charles narrowed his eyes, _damn it. Now the daughter is here. _He rubbed his temples with his forefingers. He knew in his mind that it was only natural for them to kill the entire family, he _was _an assassin after all. But Charles liked to avoid killing people if possible.

"Who are you!" The girl barked.

Charles walked to the entrance of the kitchen and looked out, staying hidden from view of Agent C as well as staying out of view of the girl. She, unlike her mother, was wearing normal teenage clothes that consisted of blue jeans and a black shirt. Her long orange hair was held back by a blue headband. From where he stood, Charles could see Agent C holding a gun up to the girl.

"Impressive," Agent C smirked, "I wasn't expecting any resistance from you."

"Don't judge a book by its cover!" The girl attempted to kick but was much too slow. Agent C easily jumped back far enough to avoid being kicked and before the girl knew it, she was slammed against the wall with the gun pressed to her head and Agent C's free hand clasped her throat. "What do you want?" the girl demanded to know.

"I'm here for Danny Phantom."

Charles brought his palm up to his face, _there you go again with telling the whole world what our mission is! _

The girl's eyes widened, "what do you want from Danny!"

Agent C's grip on her throat tightened to the point that she couldn't breathe. "Even I don't know that answer, I'm just here on orders."

At this, Charles raised his eyebrows. _He doesn't know anything? Earlier he told the mother that Danny Phantom was dangerous and a threat to the city…_he pondered further. _Or it could be that he knows the reason Danny Phantom is wanted, but he doesn't know what they're going to do to him. Even I don't know what they're going to do with that boy. The Guys in White don't tell us anything. _

"Danny will defeat you!" The girl smirked, "my little bro' is strong! He won't lose to someone like you!" Tears began to spill from her eyes, "He'll defeat you! You can count on it!" She smiled with confidence even as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"You're so noisy." Agent C pulled the trigger on his gun. The girl's body fell limp body fell to the ground, blood splashed across the wall and pooled around her.

From behind the corner, Charles took a step back and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He hated seeing innocent lives taken away, especially children. He stepped around the corner to face Agent C "how many more lives are you going to take before you're satisfied?"

Agent C reloaded his gun with a smile, "as many as it takes."

"You're sick."

Agent C crouched down and scooped up the teenage girl's body.

"What the hell are you doing?" Charles grit his teeth.

"The ghost boy is upstairs, if we lure him down here, he'll know something is wrong the moment he sees his sister's body. I'll just take her to the basement. Then we can move the mother as well."

"I don't approve of your ridiculous ideas!"

"In this case, you work for me! Alright!"

It was technically true, the Guys in White were the ones that hired Zanar.

"Do what you want." Charles reluctantly said. He turned around and walked over to the book case on the other side of the room where a few pictures were standing upright in picture frames. In the pictures he could see a happy family close together, smiling brightly and creating memories with each moment. _In the last couple minutes…we've completely destroyed those happy, special moments between them. _He bit his lip. _Damn it, I can't let my personal feelings get in the way. _No matter how hard he tried, Charles wasn't able to get rid of the memories of his own past. And seeing such a happy family ripped apart like this made his heart ache.

Charles's ear twitched slightly. He jumped behind a nearby couch to hide from view. He could hear someone walk into the living room. It was a man, Charles was able to tell from the way the man was humming loudly. Thankfully, the man didn't walk into the kitchen. However, he headed over to the stairway toward the basement.

_Don't go down there! _He knew for certain that Agent C would finish what he started. Two dead, two alive. Soon, it would only be one alive. _I shouldn't have taken this case. _Charles told himself, _this is too much. _

For several minutes, Charles stayed behind the couch even though there was no one in the living room any longer. The man who had walked by had already gone into the basement.

"Hey, Z-2." Agent C called out.

Charles sighed and stood up from behind the couch, "someone else walked by here." He knew that he didn't need to tell Agent C that.

"I took care of the guy. He was much less of a hassle than the other two. I don't think he even noticed me firing the gun!" Agent C laughed.

"This isn't a _game_!" Charles stormed up to the man, "you can bet your ass that I'll do everything I can to have you punished for this! You killed everyone in this whole damn house!" He grabbed onto Agent C's shoulder, "go back to base! I'll bring Danny Phantom in. If I let you do it, you'd kill him in an instant!"

"Get your hand off me!" He pulled his shoulder back, "don't order me around."

Charles held up his gun, pointing it directly in between the man's eyes. "Leave or I'll kill you and drag your dead ass out of here!"

"What the hell has gotten into you! Have you finally lost it, Z-2!"

"Go!" He snarled.

Agent C backed up a few steps, "alright, alright. Take it easy. I'll head over and grab the van, you get the kid and I'll be back in exactly twenty minutes and we'll get out of here. Sound alright?"

Charles nodded and Agent C turned to leave the house. The moment the man was out of sight, Charles lowered his gun and looked at the carpet below his feet. _Pull yourself together. _He wiped the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes.

"Mom? Dad?" A voice called from upstairs.

Charles once again went and hid behind the couch. _That's him. It has to be._

The boy quickened his pace and was nearly running down the stairs. "Mom? Dad? Jazz? Where are you?" He reached the bottom of the stairs and looked all around him. "Where are you guys-" The teen made his way over to the kitchen.

Then, the next thing Charles heard was the boy's horrified cries, "Oh god! Mom! Mom! Wake up!" Heavy, rapid breathing echoed through the whole house. "Damn it! Mom! Answer me!" He let out an ear-piercing wail of horror and disbelief.

There was a pause before the boy called out, "Dad!"

Wheezing with shock and horror, the boy began muttering to himself, "oh god. What do I do? What do I do? Mom. Wake up. Please wake up. You can't die! Who did this? How did they get in without me noticing? Damn it!"

Charles stood up and walked out from behind the couch to wait for the boy to come out of the kitchen. Charles put his gun away and pulled out a different, odd looking hand gun which was loaded with something other than bullets. His hand firmly grasped the gun. His eyes widened when he felt the room temperature drop several degrees, causing his hair to stand on end.

"_Show yourself!_" The boy screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing throughout the house. Before long, the boy stumbled out of the kitchen, his body was engulfed in a dark green glow. "I'll kill you! Whoever you are! Get out here!" Tears streamed down the boy's face, his body convulsed uncontrollably. After only a few uneasy steps, the boy dropped to his hands and knees.

Charles walked forward from where he stood to come before the boy. His boots stopped only a foot from the boy's place. "So, you're the one they call Danny Phantom?" Charles asked. _He's only a kid. Despite what I've just seen of his powers, I can't picture this kid being a threat to the entire city. _Charles pointed his gun at the boy's head.

The kid on his hands and knees brought his head up to get a look at Charles but never got a chance to see his face; before he could, Charles pulled the trigger on his gun. Charles was given the gun, having been told to use this particular one on this kid, but didn't know exactly what it did.

From the barrel of the gun, a strange bullet rocketed forward, but rather than imbed itself into the boy's head and kill him, it seemed to go straight through his skull, going through his head without leaving a trace of a bullet wound. But some kind of wound was created, blood began to drip heavily from his nose, mouth and even his eyes which stained the carpet. Whatever the strange bullet was, it did what it was supposed to. The boy, Danny Phantom dropped to the ground like a rag doll.

Charles bent down and picked up the strange bullet, observing it in his hands for several seconds before placing it in his pocket; then he proceeded to scoop up the teen gently in his arms.

To his surprise, the boy opened his mouth and quietly muttered "I'm sorry." It was barely audible, but Charles managed to hear it and his heart gave a pang of guilt.

"Are you apologizing to your family?" Charles asked the boy, "I understand how you feel kid." He spoke to the limp boy, knowing that he wasn't able to hear him, "I lost my family too, several years ago." Charles shook his head, trying to clear away any painful thoughts, "I'm sorry for everything, kid. I know you didn't ask for any of this." Charles proceeded to walk out of the house, carrying the boy, and refused to look back at the home of the family he had just helped destroy.

-_End Flashback-_

==0==0==0==

**A/N: And here's the authors note you are ALL looking forward too. Here we go:**

**I'M SO SORRY EVERYONE! I am very, very, very sorry! You all have every right to be mad at my absence. I really did take way too long to update this story. For a while I was a full-time college student, right now it is winter break and I of course have some time off. Thank you to those of you who sent me messages telling me to update. Haha, I don't get angry at them whatsoever, in fact I love hearing from you guys, I like knowing that there are a few people out there who read my stories and enjoy them! **

**I really hope this 'waiting several months' doesn't become a habit of mine. I do love writing, and I am still a huge DP fan. **

**Thank you all so much! You're amazing! Review if you feel like it, let me know what you think. Criticism is welcome! Oh and if any of you have any questions about the story up until now, I am more than willing to answer them! **

**Take care, and of course, Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays)! **


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